Shuckin' Shack Goes All Out For 3rd Annual Great American Oyster Day Bash

NAPERVILLE, IL — National Oyster Day is Aug. 5, so Naperville's Shuckin' Shack Oyster Bar will host a party on Aug. 2 to celebrate all things oyster. The Great American Oyster Day bash will feature Jimmy Buffet tribute music, specials and giveaways and raffles, along with the much-anticipated crowning of the Oyster King and Oyster Queen.

Shuckin' Shack owner Kyle Howard told Patch "celebrating National Oyster Day is a natural fit for us." He said diners come out to oyster bars to celebrate Oyster Day, just as people head to Irish bars for St. Patrick's Day or to Mexican restaurants on Cinco de Mayo.

If people go especially wild for oysters on National Oyster Day, they under stand a bit of the "temporary loss of sanity" that Howard said, jokingly, inspired he and wife Angie to open Shuckin' Shack.

"I always tell people that we suffered from a temporary loss of sanity," Howard told Patch. "Admittedly, there is some truth to that because the restaurant business is tough, but we love it."

The pair, who are avid travelers, had lamented the lack of a "great place to get great oysters and great seafood" in Chicago's suburbs. Specifically, there was no place that made oysters their main event, Howard said.

Shuckin' Shack Oyster Bar keeps six or seven types of fresh oysters on its menu, so diners have a variety to choose from. "If Oyster Bar is part of your name, you have to pay attention to these things," he said.

Howard told Patch "there is so much to say about oysters."

"Oysters reach out to everyone, but not everyone likes them," he said. "We’ve had many people try
raw oysters in our restaurant for the first time. Some say it changed their lives, some
spit it back out on the plate."

"I think oysters represent something that has reached across generations and connects us," Howard continued. "There are a lot of things that connect us to each other, but oysters do it in a special way."

He said people love to talk about oysters: where they first tried them, their preference for oysters from the east or west coast, how they like their oysters prepared.

"Oysters connect us in a way that we wouldn’t normally be connected with each other," Howard told Patch. "No other food or drink does that."

Perhaps there's no better way to see the impact of oysters than at a party that holds a coronation ceremony for diners who have plunged into the depths of oyster love by eating as many as 127 oysters in a sitting.

Howard said the idea for Oyster King and Queen came after they began their restaurant wall with Polaroid photos of customers who have downed three dozen oysters or more in one sitting.

The "Oyster Wall of Fame" prompted the Howards to host a coronation ceremony and celebration on the first National Oyster Day they observed after opening in 2022.

Howard said a diner who ate 84 oysters in September seemed to be a shoe-in for Oyster King, until they were unseated in an unexpected upset on July 28 when someone ate 127 oysters. Barring a veritable gustatory miracle, that diner will be crowned Oyster King.

The king and queen receive a $100 gift card, a custom shirt and other prizes, but Howard said, "let's face it; the real prize is bragging rights."

In addition to the coronation ceremony, Shuckin' Shack's Oyster Day Bash will spotlight Looper & Frank, Jimmy Buffet Tribute musicians who were recommended to the Howards by the Chicago Parrot Club.

Those in attendance at the party can enter raffles to win coolers, shirts, pet items, yoga classes, oil changes and more. Howard said many of the prizes were donated by businesses in Naperville.

"I want to recognize our wonderful business neighbors here in Naper Plaza," he said. "It is a great group of small businesses that support the community and have donated many items to our events."

All of the raffle ticket sale proceeds will be donated to the Edward Foundation.

And no National Oyster Day celebration would be complete without specials on oysters. During the Aug. 2 party, diners can get a dozen white stone oysters for $20. Domestic beer bottles will be $2.50 apiece and house wines will be $5 a glass.

What: 3rd Annual Great American Oyster Day Bash

When: Aug. 2, starting at 4:30 p.m.

Where: Shuckin' Shack Oyster Bar, 8 W. Gartner Rd., Naperville