SAN ANTONIO — It is one of the most popular Fiesta events, Oyster Bake. In fact, 70,000 people are expected to attend the celebration this year that is held on the campus of St. Mary's. Earlier this month we hit up a preview event at the school earlier this month to find out how the huge event comes together every year.
Two Days, over 35 bands and 100,000 oysters! This year's Oyster Bake is right around the corner. Cynthia Pena, this year's Oyster Bake chair told us, "We usually try to get everything from Texas. Unfortunately they didn't have a good crop. So we're having to get them from the East Coast."
To bake, distribute, and sell all of those oysters it takes a lot of volunteers. 7,000 of them including Chris Boone, the record revenue chair who said, "We're waiting for them to open up and you can start to hear them crack, they start to bubble, they start to expose the liquid that's in the oysters." Boone says when they're piping hot on a newly remodeled oyster baking pit, the juice is flowing out of the shell like that and they are ready to go.
But what if oysters aren't your thing? Isaiah Chavez from Sigma Phi Epsilon told us, "Last year we were able to have a booth on Friday and we were able to provide hot Cheetos and cheese to the community and St Mary's community. And we were able to raise about to $2,000."
Sigma Phi Epsilon has a booth each year. That $2,000 they raised last year has to last them a long time. Chavez added, "That money is what we use for a fundraiser, our organization, for about a year and a half."
Of course everyone loves the chicken on a stick. Pena said, "I just think it is something different you can't get anywhere else."
But you can't forget about the dozens of bands. Pena told us, "Some people come for the oysters, some people come for the chicken on a stick, and some people come for the bands."
And all of the profits are to help the St. Mary's students afford school! Pena added, "This last year alone, we were able to give back $450,000 in scholarships to our students.
You can get your tickets to this year's Oyster Bake online for $25 right here.