FILE PHOTO
Several varieties of oysters await attendees during the 2018 Snow Hill Oyster Roast, hosted by the town’s chamber of commerce. The event has become so popular that this year tickets sold out several hours after going on sale. The chamber has promised to release more tickets to the public on Feb. 1.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Jan. 17, 2019) The Snow Hill Chamber of Commerce last week took steps to smooth over relations with area residents who were upset with how ticket sales for the 9th annual Snow Hill Oyster Roast, scheduled Feb. 24, were handled.

Tickets for the event, $45 and each year limited to 450, went on sale online at midnight on Jan. 1 and were sold out by around 5 a.m. that morning.

That did not sit well with some, who took to the chamber of commerce Facebook page to voice their displeasure.

The chamber on Jan. 3 posted, “Wow, We sold out in 24 hours this year to our 9th Annual Oyster Roast. Quickest sell-out in our history!”

“Thank you for all your support in this event. To those that missed out, we do apologize,” the post continued. “We feel strongly that the small size of this event is what makes it so enjoyable and popular.”

Bishop’s Stock owner Ann Coates was among the first to weigh in, saying it was her understanding Taylor Bank and the Harvest Moon restaurant had each reserved 150 tickets “which were gone before the online sales” started.

“Last year, I was able to get four tickets online. This year — no chance — and Bishop’s Stock is the soup stop” for the event, Coates said.

“As a chamber member, I feel this is not an equitable way to meet the demand. There needs to be a better resolution,” Coates added.

Resident Robert Clarke said he supports local businesses, but added, “I will never go to any chamber event or activity if this is how they treat residents.”

Barbara Hudson, also a Snow Hill resident, said she attends the oyster roast every year.

“Unfortunately, this year after having been assured tickets would be available online, at 7 a.m. on Jan. 1 they were sold out. Having sold all the tickets so quickly is a wonderful position for the chamber to be in but it is at the expense of Snow Hill residents and long time supporters of the Chamber.”

Fenwick resident Gail Louise said she’d long “trumpeted Snow Hill as a wonderful small town with great folks.”

“The way this was handled showed poor judgment at best and shady dealing at worst,” Louise said. “Insiders have clearly put up the ‘need not bother’ sign for others if 300 tickets were reserved for private distribution and only 150 online.”

She added, “I still love Snow Hill. I think the Chamber needs to evaluate their objectives for events.”

Lana Maloney said she had gone the last three years and spent “lots of money at the local merchants,” adding, “we are done with Snow Hill!”

“Sad for the merchants but not for the town. They have their favorites and sold tickets before hand without telling the public. Thanks to the bank and a local watering hole…. they made out!” she said.

Event organizer Lee Chisholm, last Wednesday, said what happened was “an honest mistake that kind of snowballed.”

“We’ve never had demand like we’ve seen this year,” he said. “It’s been popular and we’ve sold tickets quickly, but we’ve never seen demand like we did this year.”

Chisholm, who works at Taylor Bank, said it’s not uncommon for someone to approach him there in December and ask to put a few tickets on hold.

“That never really amounted to more than 20 or 30 tickets every year and it never really was an issue,” he said. “This year, so many people did that, and they did that over at the restaurant and they did it here, so we ended up kind of shooting ourselves in the foot.

“You do a ‘yeah, sure’ as a friendly favor, but when it was one after another after another after another, pretty soon we had 300 tickets of 500 sold before they went on sale,” Chisholm continued. “It’s something that, obviously, we’re never going to do that again and we realize it’s a mistake, and we’re going to be rectifying it next year to make sure it’s a very equitable process.”

Chisholm said he’d read the Facebook comments and understood why people were so angry.

“They did all the things they were supposed to do. They listened to the rules, they listened to the instructions, and then to find out that there was a waiting list of people that had tickets on there that people were unaware of,” he said. “I see the frustration and it’s something that I can guarantee you, for as long as I have anything to do with this event, that will never happen again.”

Chamber board members met last Thursday to discussion potential solutions. Chisholm, on Friday, said the decision was made to expand the event this year and release additional tickets.

He said the exact number had yet to be determined, but an announcement would be made shortly and be well broadcast, and tickets would likely go on sale again on Feb. 1.

“We are going to publicize that as much as possible, through Facebook and radio, and any way we can to allow the public to all have an equal shot to obtain these additional tickets,” he said. “The tickets will be limited, because we are focused on the quality of the event over the quantity of people that we can fit in here.”

Chisholm explained the event must be kept relatively small because of the limited indoor seating and the fact that “we can’t do a rain date with fresh oysters.”

“Nobody wants to come back next week for week-old oysters that have been sitting in the cooler all week,” he said. “It’s gotta happen on that day and we have very limited capacity to hold people inside.

“In the event of some [inclement] weather, we have to find indoor housing and seating for all of our guests. And if we expand this to the point where we cannot accommodate everyone, we’re going to have a lot of unhappy guests,” Chisholm added.

He admitted the chamber board realized the practice of setting aside so many tickets “was a big mistake.”

“We’re rectifying that the best we can. Obviously, that practice will never continue again,” he said. “We’re trying to repair our relationship with the disappointed folks this year as best we can by offering some additional ticket sales.

“The only thing that has yet to be determined is how many tickets we are going to release,” Chisholm continued. “We’re going to have an oyster roast planning meeting next week and that is when we are going to determine that number – what we’re comfortable in handling and still making sure we can run the event successfully and have a quality event for all that attend.”