It’s a crisp autumn day and the grandstands are full. The time clock is set and the officials in place. The cheering crowd quiets as the hometown hero steps up to the plate. He puts on his glove and waits.

At the sound of a buzzer, he takes a swing—at the first craggy oyster he sees. He works efficiently with care and speed, then suddenly, three minutes and seven seconds in, he raises his arms in victory and backs away from the plate, where two dozen raw oysters lie exposed and gleaming. The crowd roars; a new U.S. National Oyster Shucking Champion is born. Oyster shucking may not be as all-American as baseball, nor oysters as red, white, and blue as apple pie, but the native Chesapeake Bay species pre-dates both, and nothing sums up autumn more.

On the third weekend of October, the fairgrounds in Leonardtown, Md., are transformed into an oyster-lover’s paradise, known as the St. Mary’s County Oyster Festival. The aroma of roasted garlic, fresh herbs, and oysters fusing into rich chowder lingers at the entrance, while inside, the fairground’s barn-style buildings are a diner’s delight. Some are used for cooking demonstrations, while others have been converted into giant raw bars, where thousands of fat, succulent bivalves are brimming out of their shells, resting on ice beds next to garnishes of cocktail sauce, lemon juice, and horseradish. On the soundstage, Them Eastport Oyster Boys are belting out folk tunes, as the oyster king presides over the festival, complete with crown and scepter.

Every year about 15,000 to 17,000 attendees gather at the two-day event to welcome oyster season with a local flair. The festival began in 1967 as a fundraiser for the Lexington Park Rotary Club, but it has evolved into an annual tradition that is now home to the U.S. National Oyster Shucking Championship and National Oyster Cook-Off.

Men in John Deere hats mingle with urban types from Baltimore and Washington, sipping Red Hook beer near the music pavilion, as young families head off to try their luck at the carnival games. The crowd is diverse, yet shares one thing in commonÐoyster intrigue. Some are passionate about their oysters’ provenance: Did it come from the Bay, the Rappahannock, or the Patuxent? From Maryland waters or Virginia? But for most, it doesn’t really matter, as long as they are fresh, cold, plump, and tasty. with thick, protective work gloves tucked into their back pockets, the oyster shuckers are the easiest to spot. They arrive from nearby coastal communities like Baltimore and Urbanna but also from seaside towns all along the Atlantic Coast, north and south, like Wellfleet, Mass., and Panama City, Fla., to vie for the national title. The winner competes for a cash prize, as well as the more coveted opportunity to vie for the world championship title at the Galway International Oyster Festival in Ireland.

Shuckers are a tight-knit clan cut from the same hearty cloth. Some are kin who have learned their craft from earlier generations; most have been shucking oysters all their lives. They are differentiated by their shucking style, prosaically known as “butt shuckers,” or “Chesapeake stabbers.” But no matter the method, whether they go in at the hinge, from the front or the back, opening a cold, tenacious oyster fast and clean takes skill and gumption.

“I’m the eight-time Florida State Champion, two-time U.S. champion,” Scott O’Lear of Panama City recites without breaking rhythm, as he warms up for the final heat with a chilled oyster in hand. “I’ve been shucking oysters thirty years, since I was five,” he explains. “This competition here is tough, though. It’s the best of the best.”

About twenty-five shuckers (more men than women) race in preliminary heats during the first day of the festival, narrowing the field to six men and six women, who compete in two final male and female rounds on Sunday afternoon, before facing off to decide the U.S. national title. Time is of the essence in an oyster-shucking contest, but presentation makes or breaks the race. A panel of judges evaluates the shucked oysters for “restaurant condition” qualities, and seconds are added to a competitor’s time if presentation is not up to par. Shuckers are penalized if an oyster is not completely cut from its shell, if it is presented on a broken shell, if it is covered with grit or blood, or even worse, if the oyster itself is cut or missing entirely.

This time around, the winner is George Hastings, a homegrown talent from Severn, Md., who pulls off his second win in nine years by shucking twenty-four oysters in just over three minutes. Hastings has been shucking oysters for more than thirty years, since he was a teenager growing up in Baltimore, working bull and oyster roasts. He comes off the win excited for a second chance to take on his international rivals. But behind his gregarious smile, there is also concern, apprehension about the future of the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry. “The festival is not only fantastic for the community of St. Mary’s County but also for oyster awareness, which we need nowadays with the state of the Chesapeake Bay,” he says. His demeanor serves as a reminder that oyster levels in the Bay are at historic lows.

The oyster shucking competition gets billed as the festival highlight, but most festival-goers are simply here to eat. And they’ll take their oysters any way they can: fried, scalded, or on the half shell, stewed in chowder, baked in scones, topped on salad, glazed with hoisin sauce, or served up with a swig of beer in a shot glass.

Cooks from around the country flock to the fairgrounds to test their epicurean skills at the National Oyster Cook-Off. The twelve finalists who compete on the first day of the event are selected from more than 150 entries and come from as far away as Portland, Ore., and as nearby as Leonardtown. The 2003 winner, Jackie Horridge, hailing from Nashville, Tenn., captured the grand prize with her Greek goddess oysters, while oyster Alfredo soup, made by Terry Ann Moore of Oaklyn, N.J., won for best presentation. As for the peoples’ choice, it was Baltimore’s Marty Hyson’s rendition of roasted chestnut oyster stew that took first prize. Dishes are also awarded first-, second-, and third-place prizes in four different categories—hors d’oeuvres, main dishes, soups, stews, salads, and outdoor cookery—but the best part of the contest is the plenty of samples going around.

In the oyster pavilion, raw oysters are shucked and served up on paper plates for $12 a dozen (or current market price), then eaten standing up at waste-high wooden counters. Despite the rustic digs, the oysters taste as silky smooth here as at any chi-chi metropolitan oyster bar.

Huddled at one counter is a group of family and friends from Leonard-town swigging back oysters by the dozens. One of the families has just moved back to Maryland from the West Coast and is soaking up the local culture. “I love the atmosphere here,” Charlene Kelly says. “It is part of the character of being here, near the Chesapeake Bay.”

Across the table, a neighbor’s teenage daughter hesitantly picks up an oyster, slowly dashes it with cocktail sauce, explaining, “This is my first one,” before dropping it in her mouth apprehensively. The crowd around the table looks up and waits, gauging her reaction. “Not bad,” she says with a smile and shrug, an oyster lover already in the making. And is it really a surprise? After all, at the St. Mary’s County Festival, the world is, well, an oyster.

Freelancer Jessica Merrill ate her first raw oysters at the 2003 festival. She pronounced them delicious.

The St. Mary’s County Oyster Festival takes place Oct. 16 & 17 at the St. Mary’s County Fairground, Leonardtown, Md. Admission is $5. 301-863-5015 or http://www.usoysterfest.com.

Can’t get enough oysters?

Here are some other fall events where you can slurp to your heart’s content:

38th Annual Maryland Seafood Festival
Sept. 10-12, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sandy Point State Park, Annapolis. 410-268-7682 or http://www.mdseafoodfestival.com

J. Millard Tawes Oyster and Bull Roast
Oct. 16, 1-5 p.m. Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, Md. 410-968-2501 or http://www.crisfieldheritagefoundation.org

Patuxent River Appreciation Days
Oct. 9 & 10, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, Md. 410-326-2042 or http://www.calvertmarinemuseum.com

Tilghman Island Day
Oct. 16, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tilghman Island, Md. 410-886-2121 or http://www.tilghmanmd.com

Oysterfest ‘04
Nov. 6, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, Md. 410-745-2916 or http://www.cbmm.org

47th Annual Urbanna Oyster Festival
Nov. 5 & 6, 10 a.m.-midnight & 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. Downtown Urbanna, Va. 804-758-0368 or http://www.urbannaoysterfestival.com