St Cletus Oyster Festival

I used to go to Elementary school here. Somewhere along the line they started calling the school fair the oyster festival, but it’s just a school fair.
They did have people shucking fresh oysters, so I was impressed by that. You could also get oyster po boys, although by the time I got here they were sold out. That’s pretty much the extent of the «oyster fest» part.
Other booths served turkey legs, nachos, pizza, jambalaya and beer. I decided on the nachos and I have no idea why. They were completely flavorless, but they cost about 3 bucks, so I didn’t expect much. After the nachos I decided to treat myself to a snowball. I should preface this by saying that most of these booths are being run by kids. Anyway, the teenager who made my snowball was kind of stingy with the flavoring, so I had to go back and get more syrup. It wasn’t too bad after that.
There were plenty of booths with games and there was even a rock climbing wall. The highlight was probably the band that was playing. It was a cover band, but I was impressed by the setup of the stage, lights and effects. Things certainly have come a long way from when I used to go to this fair as a kid.
All in all it was a good time. It’s a fundraiser for the school, so it’s all volunteer and all things considered it wasn’t too bad.

Reading Le Thu and Dorothy’s review of St. Cletus Oyster Festival brought back some memories. Prior to the Oil spill my favorite New Orleans band was playing at the festival so my friends and I loaded up the truck and headed to the Westbank.
Now when I first heard Zebra was was coming home I knew that I would not miss the opportubity to see Randy, Felix and Guy play live. I had seen video of Zebra playing at the Strawberry festival in Ponchatoula and Randy’s guitar playing is legendary.
Now Im sure that prior to the oil spill the fest might have been better but hey guys it’s a fundraiser and its a cool Catholic church! The fest was a little cheesy but we loaded up on Oyster dishes gumbo and listened to a killer opening band Black Magnolia while waiting for Zebra. My friends were quite amused that the band paused for mass and the party cranked right back up after mass. Gotta love Catholics!
Since it was October there was a strong southern wind and when darkness fell we were not prepared for the cold!
Seeing Zebra play was without a doubt one of the best concerts I’ve ever enjoyed although my friends were hampered by the cold weather and the loss of a cell phone.
St. Cletus seemed like a very friendly local church and I hope that they continue with their festivals but hope they change the dates to warmer weather.

(This is the same review posted under the St. Cletus School Listing, but I feel like it is applicable to both since it’s a yearly event.)
This is a review for the St. Cletus Oyster Festival.
I’ve been seeing the signs all over the West Bank for the last week and yesterday, when a friend called us up to say they were heading to the West Bank for the Oyster Festival. Cool, we were going to get dim sum anyway so we just changed our plans a little. There’d be oysters, right?
Wrong. Why do they call this the oyster festival? Of the various food stands, only one sold oysters at all, in a 16 ticket (or $ 8) fried oyster poboy. This is just a school festival/​fundraiser. Good for the school, good for the kids doing dance routines and begging their parents and other patrons to donate money to the school and their classrooms. It was entertaining to see kids begging for $ 100 bills on stage but also a little sad.
Food we did manage to eat:
— Crab and corn bisque: Delicious. Lots and lots of crab. The French bread ends were stale but the soup was flavorful and thick.
— Roasted pork fajitas: Sooo tender and yummy. The fajita was like a huge fatty taco, flour tortilla and roasted bell peppers. They had a little smoker/​roaster in the back and the meat was hot and fresh, with little bits of crisp skin mixed in with the tender meat.
Kids ate:
— Disgusting looking bright pink hot dogs. Creeped me out a lot.
There were a couple of rides, a couple of games, and lots of Saints attire. We were trying to figure out why it was called the Oyster Festival; was it the school mascot? Would there be oyster races? Do the students cultivate oysters?
None of the above. Their mascot is the Colts, there are no oyster races, and I could see no oyster beds or tiny ponds. They need to rename this festival so the disappointment is not so great.