Greenport Shellabration, the brain child of John J. Kramer and Scott Bollman, is a two-day pub crawl taking place in the walking Village of Greenport this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, December 8th and 9th from 12 noon to 5 p.m. John Kramer, owner of East End Insurance Company, is a native of Southold who grew up on the water fishing and clamming. He refers to his North Fork home situated 100 feet from his dock as “Clamalot”, where he was able to realize his love of shellfish as an avocational oyster farmer. Scott Bollman is a CIA-trained chef and owner of Bruce’s Cheese Emporium and Cafe in Greenport where he serves breakfast and lunch to many-a-crowd. Kramer and Bollman came up with the concept of Shellabration as a way to bring locals and visitors together to celebrate the shellfish bounty on the North Fork of Long Island and raise funds to continue the SPAT program. Participants will purchase a wristband for $10 (donation) which will give them the opportunity to purchase $5 appetizer plates and $3 wine pours at the partner restaurants.
Kramer attributes his start in the oyster farming business to Kim Tetrault, the founder of SPAT who he met 15 years ago. SPAT is the Southold Project for Aquaculture Training which is a program that Mr. Tetrault began as a grass roots movement to put residents of the Peconic Bay area back in control of their environment. For many years the population of scallops and oysters were diminishing but SPAT raised awareness and provided tools and training to locals and help bring the shellfish back. John also credits Gregg Rivara of Cornell University Cooperative Extension for helping him get the off-bottom culture permit from the DEC which was a challenging process.
Kramer and Bollman are expecting over 500 attendees this weekend for Shellabration despite the damage that Sandy may have caused in other coastal communities. Most North Fork Hotels and B&Bs were not affected by Sandy and there are plenty of guestrooms for those who don’t want to drink and drive. This “restaurant crawl” will include almost one dozen Greenport Restaurants as well as many of the local vendors.
“Despite Sandy, the good news is that the scallop harvest is thriving on the North Fork, along with oysters and clams”. Kramer refers to this as a huge victory which took 15 years for the state legislature to allow shellfish cultivators to grow and sell young (1 year old) scallops for consumption. For any raw bar lover or aficionado of sushi, there is nothing like a fresh bay scallop eaten right out of its shell. It is briny, sweet and creamy and nothing in the world compares to it.
So if you want to take a little “staycation” after the Thanksgiving break to unwind or do a little wine tasting to get you in the mood for the holidays, join us in the Village of Greenport for Greenport Shellabration this weekend.
