Oyster and Timber Festival showcases the best of Karuah

KARUAH celebrated the return of its iconic Oyster and Timber Festival on Saturday 18 October.

Spread across the town, from riverfront to footy field, the festival was a study in community collaboration.

The festival expanded from the riverfront to include Lionel Morton Oval several years ago, allowing for more than 40 stalls and a crowd of thousands.

“It was a tremendously successful event, with three to four thousand people attending across the day,” Festival President Tom Waller told NOTA.

“The football field works well for us, so we should hope to be there in the future too.

“The duck race and Motor Yacht Club’s fishing competition, both major attractions, still take place at the riverfront.”

Tom noted the support of the Karuah RSL, which offered the use of its courtesy bus to shuttle festivalgoers between locations.

An annual highlight of the event, the festival’s woodchop competition brought in 16 competitors as part of the NSW Axemen’s Association’s competitive calendar, with prizes up to $1000 in some categories.

As always, the oyster eating competitions attracted much interest too.

Ever on hand at local community events, the Tea Gardens Lions Club set up their famous volunteer-run barbecue, fundraising for the Australian Lions Childhood Cancer Research Foundation.

The Karuah Oyster and Timber Festival has been run in some format for more than 20 years, and has well and truly bounced back from the dampers of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as oyster health in the recent past.

Tom encourages all residents of Karuah and further afield to engage with the festival in years to come.

“It is important that the whole community stays involved, with the big support from the RSL, so we will keep it going next year, with help from Destination Port Stephens and Port Stephens Council to get word out and around,” he said.

By Thomas O’KEEFE