FALMOUTH Oyster Festival returns from October 9 to 12 with its most ambitious programme to date, marking a major milestone in the festival’s proud 29-year history.

The free-to-attend four-day celebration honours the start of the oyster dredging season. The festival promises a full and vibrant programme in Events Square and the Princess Pavilion, from chef demonstrations and panel discussions to masterclasses and street food – and not forgetting the hotly contested oyster shucking competition and Working Boat Race. Add live music, author talks and children’s entertainment, and you have something for all the family.

In Events Square, the Chef’s Theatre will host for cookery demonstrations from top Cornish chefs including Stephane Delourme and Pete Murt, former and current head chefs at The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow; Masterchef finalist Charlie Walters from Narla in Fowey; Ben Palmer, 2024 Great British Menu champion for the South West and chef-patron of The Sardine Factory in Looe; and Jude Kereama, owner of Kota and Kota Kai in Porthleven, alongside Annie Seabourne (My Fish Kitchen), Hylton Espey (Culture), Elliot Kett (Kelp Canteen) and Chris Eden (Watergate Bay Hotel).

In the evenings, there is ticketed entertainment from Johnny Cowling & Jailhouse, Falmouth Soul Sensation, Falmouth Gospel Choir, The Quartermasters and Flats & Sharps. The Oggymen also return for their popular live performance.

New for 2025, Falmouth’s Princess Pavilion joins as a second festival venue offering a jam-packed line-up of activities – including a live performance from Seth Lakeman.

By day, visitors can explore street food and market stalls, catch a painting demonstration by marine artist Jamie Medlin or pop-into the panel discussion exploring the culture, tradition and sustainability of Falmouth’s Oyster Fishery, hosted by Elliot Kett of Falmouth food truck Kelp Cornwall.

For children, the Sam O’Shanty Puppet Show is a must-see, as is Miracle Theatre’s interactive Squirrel Society challenge game (ticketed).

Festivalgoers can also take home new skills by joining a masterclass. Learn from the experts how to shuck an oyster, make Peruvian ceviche using local fish, develop a nose for wine and shake the perfect cocktail.

A series of ‘In Conversation’ evenings with established authors including Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall, Fern Britton and Rukmini Iyer, hosted in collaboration with Falmouth Book Festival, are available to book now.

For more than a century, Cornish families have derived their livelihood from oyster dredging in the Carrick Roads and surrounding rivers. Many of the oyster boats, known as Falmouth Working Boats were built in local boatyards, with some of the oldest dating back as far as 1860. Historically, over 130 oyster dredgers worked out of Falmouth and St Mawes and virtually every port in Cornwall had its own fleet.

To this day, ancient laws prohibit oystermen fishing in the Port of Truro Oyster Fishery are from using engines. Sail power and hand-pulled dredges must be used to protect the natural ecology of the riverbeds and oyster stock. This is the only oyster fishery in Europe, where such traditional methods must be used, by law.

Stay up to date on the latest festival news at @Faloysterfest.