Mayor Charlie Dorman, left, and 2018 WBOC Jefferson Award winner Tommy Mason share a laugh during the 8th annual Snow Hill Oyster Roast on Sunday. Both men worked the grill, serving up roasted oysters to the more than 400 attendees.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(March 1, 2018) The clouds parted just as the eighth annual Snow Hill Oyster Roast was getting started, as 450 lucky ticket holders descended on the downtown to feast on raw, single-fried, roasted, Rockefeller, and a number of other preparations of local oysters during a suddenly sunny Sunday in February.

The event is the largest moneymaker of the year for the Snow Hill Chamber of Commerce.

Volunteers poured cold beer and shucked oysters inside the old firehouse, and at least eight different oyster dishes were available in the nearby parking lot and inside Harvest Moon, the American Legion, and Bishop’s Stock Fine Art, Craft & Wine.

“How they get the weather like this every year is beyond me,” Economic Development Coordinator Michael Day said. “This is amazing. For four years in a row, we’ve had great weather.”

Mayor Charlie Dorman, working the grill and handing out trays of roasted oysters, was equally elated.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “We sold out in six days and the sun came out, thank God!”

Delegate Mary Beth Carozza said the event seems to grow each year, drawing an audience of people from across the Eastern Shore.

“I’ve already run into people from Somerset County and Wicomico County, and obviously here in Worcester County,” she said. “I know people are even coming down from Delaware. When you have a tradition like this … it’s a great day for Snow Hill and for all the shore.”

Carozza credited the Snow Hill Chamber with bringing all the components of the event together.

“It is extremely difficult to organize an event like this, and when you sell out of tickets within the first couple of days of putting them out, that shows you what a great tradition this has become,” she said.

Event organizer Lee Chisholm, past president of the Snow Hill Chamber, said he couldn’t have asked for a better day.

“We’re in the high 70s, the sun is shining – I don’t know what we did to deserve this kind of weather, but I’m not going to ask any questions,” he said. “We have eight different kinds of oysters, the lines are short, people are having a good time. It’s just a great event.”

He also shared the credit with volunteers, sponsors and others who help make the oyster roast a continued success.

“I don’t do this by myself – I have a bunch of people that do it with me and I can’t do it without them,” Chisholm said. “This is a small town, coming together, making a great showing, bringing people that don’t normally come here and showing them a good time. I think this is what’s going to bring people back to Snow Hill and it’s going to benefit our community, so I’m very happy with what I see right now.”