Urbanna Oyster Festival Tent

The "Big Tent" is the project of the Christ Church Parish Brotherhood, with lots of help from all members and friends of the church.

Boats from up and down the coast starting to fill Urbanna Creek in anticipation of the Oyster Festival.

The Urbanna Oyster Festival brings tens of thousands of people into Urbanna each fall. Festival goers come from near and far, from surrounding counties as well as from up and down the east coast. They come in cars, RVs, chartered buses, boats and million-dollar yachts. They come for the party atmosphere, the parades and the food. And Christ Church Parish is happy to add to their festival experience by offering a variety of delicious foods, lovingly made by us and served by us with Christian hospitality. Our Oyster Festival Tent brings in a net profit of thousands of dollars, which in turn, we use to support our church and our many community outreach programs. Our Oyster Festival Tent not only brings in much needed funds, it is our opportunity to show the spirit of Christ Church to thousands who might not know a church.

The Oyster Festival is held annually the first Friday and Saturday of November.  In those two days, Christ Church Parish makes thousands of dollars. Sounds simple, but in reality, those profits require hundreds of man-hours behind the scenes, preparations requiring the involvement and support of everyone in the Parish.

The Big Tent

The men making sure everything is shipshape.

The big tent is the project of the Men's Brotherhood (every male member of Christ Church Parish). After the tent is erected, the men set up the tables, the cooking equipment and haul in and place all the supplies. They also set up an adjacent tent where they make their clam chowder throughout the two days and which provides shelter, when needed, for those breading the raw oysters to be fried.

The ECW making over 1800 ham biscuits.

The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) includes every woman member of Christ Church Parish. These women, and any friends they can muster, pre-make more than 1800 ham biscuits for sale under the big tent. The women also help man the big tent both festival days, taking and filling customers' orders.

Boy Scouts and Christchurch School students pitch in.

Our Troup 341 Boy Scouts help prepare and bread the raw oysters to be fried. Other help comes from Christchurch School students, who help keep the serving counter supplied, as well as serving up any and all menu items. We even have several friends of the Parish that travel from Richmond, Northern Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia just to help with the tent.

The ECW, the Scouts, the Christchurch School students, and the friends of the Parish - we couldn't do it without them. And they all add to our fun and laughs!

The big tent is open Friday and Saturday, 9:00 am - 5:00 or 6:00 pm. The menu includes:

• Ham Biscuits

• Ham & Oyster Biscuits

• Fried Oysters

• Fried Clam Strips

• Clam Chowder

• Softshell Crabs

The ECW Bake Sale Tent.

The Bake Sale Tent

The ECW sells a myriad of yummy homemade items in a smaller tent next to the big tent. Proceeds from the bake sale fund ECW's projects and outreach ministries.