South Carolina's recreational oyster season opened half an hour before sunrise on Thursday, October 1, 2026. It stays open through May 15, 2027, unless conditions call for a change. Count the days and that comes to 227. The Historic Bluffton Arts & Seafood Festival puts its oyster events on the calendar between October 11 and October 17. That one week gets most of the attention, but it covers only a small part of the season.
The rest of the season is already scheduled, in pieces. A school fundraiser sits on one calendar, a historic-house evening on another, and a restaurant's run of Saturday roasts on a third. Put them together and Bluffton has an oyster roast on the books almost every month from now until March. Most of them happen within a few blocks of the May River in Old Town.
The festival week works as a preview of the season
The festival grew up around the river. It started in 2005 as a one-day event meant to draw attention to the May River and Bluffton Oyster Co. It became a weekend in 2006 and a full week in 2007. This year is the 22nd, running October 9 through 18, and its oyster events cover the whole season in one week: a roast, a farm visit, a race and a dock party.
- Sunday, October 11. The Blessing of the Fleet and boat parade run from 4 to 5 p.m. at Wright Family Park, with gospel music by Lavon Stevens. Oyster Fest follows from 5 to 8 p.m. at Oyster Factory Park, with oysters, a shrimp boil, barbecue and live music by Crosstown Traffic. The festival calls it the first oyster roast of the season.
- Tuesday, October 13, and Thursday, October 15. May River Excursions runs two-hour tours to May River Oyster Company's working farm, where the farmers walk guests through how they raise their oysters. Tours leave at 10 a.m. from the Calhoun Street Public Dock at 110 Calhoun St. They cost $115 per person, lunch included, and space is limited.
- Saturday, October 17. The Old Town Oyster Run 5K starts the day at Oyster Factory Park. The day ends back at the park with Rockin' on the Dock, 6 to 9 p.m., with seafood, roasted local oysters and live music.
Many festival events are free. Tours, dinners and some special events need tickets or reservations, and the full schedule is on the festival's website. The Bluffton Sun's festival preview lists the rest of the week, including a dinner and talk on local waterways at the Waddell Mariculture Center on October 12.
The festival packs a whole season into one week. The months after it are when the season actually happens.
November has the busiest week of the season
Once the festival tents come down, the calendar gets busier, not quieter. The densest stretch is a nine-day run in early November, with events on both sides of the bridge.
Friday, November 6. The Hilton Head Oyster Festival's Friday program serves all-you-can-eat steamed local oysters from 5 to 8 p.m. at Shelter Cove Community Park. The Post and Courier lists admission at $60.
Saturday, November 7. Coast at Sea Pines holds one of its Saturday afternoon roasts, 1 to 4 p.m., weather permitting. The series starts October 10, 2026, and runs every Saturday through February 27, 2027. Coast roasts local oysters from Maggioni Oyster Company on site, with live music and peel-and-eat shrimp.
Thursday, November 12. Hilton Head Christian Academy holds Magical Night on the May at Bluffton Oyster Factory Park, 63 Wharf Street, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., with a coastal menu and an oyster roast. Individual tickets are $175.
Saturday, November 14. This is the one night of the season with two Old Town roasts at once. The Historic Bluffton Foundation's Under the Ancient Oaks fills Heyward House, 70 Boundary Street, with living history from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., then holds an oyster roast with reenactors from 6 to 8 p.m. That same evening, Nectar Farm Kitchen hosts a roast with Vanna & The Rump Shakers from 5 to 8 p.m. at Nectar Old Town Bluffton, 207 Bluffton Road. The Foundation's page links to ticket sales but hadn't posted a 2026 price as of early October.
Four events in nine days, two of them on the same Saturday night, makes this the busiest stretch on the season's calendar, festival week included.
From December on, Nectar's Saturdays carry Bluffton's calendar
After mid-November the one-off fundraisers drop away. Nectar Farm Kitchen's monthly roast becomes the steady Bluffton event, each with a different band, all at 207 Bluffton Road.
- Saturday, December 5. The Lucky Ones, 5:30 to 8 p.m.
- Saturday, January 16, 2027. Retroroxx.
- Saturday, February 20, 2027. Feels Good, Inc.
- Saturday, March 13, 2027. Soul Remedy.
The Coast roasts on Hilton Head fill the Saturdays in between through the end of February. The Rotary Club of Bluffton's Annual Oyster Roast is listed for March. As of early October the date, venue and ticket price were still to come. Watch for it on the spring calendar.
Mid-March is where the published roast calendar ends. The harvest season keeps going for another two months, and that's the part of the season you can join with your own boots and bucket.
Harvesting the May River yourself takes some checking first
Recreational harvesters need a Saltwater Recreational Fishing License, sold by SCDNR online and at many fishing supply stores. The limits in the SCDNR's September 25 season announcement are specific:
- Two U.S. bushels of oysters and half a bushel of clams per day.
- Harvest on no more than two calendar days in any seven-day period.
- One bushel equals eight gallons.
- No more than three personal limits per boat or vehicle.
- Clams must be at least one inch thick.
The nearest public ground to Old Town is R-008, labeled Bull Creek / May River, in SCDES Shellfish Management Area 19. SCDNR's 2026–27 table lists R-008 as opening October 1 and closing May 15. The ground covers only "portions of May River and Bull Creek," and its September 2026 map marks prohibited and restricted classifications within it. Recreational harvest is allowed only where water quality is rated open or approved on the shellfish maps. So an open season doesn't mean every oyster bank in the May River is open.
The map also says the area can close at any time. After a hurricane, a major rain event or a pollution spill, the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services, formerly SCDHEC, can temporarily close beds. Closure information is available at 1-800-285-1618 and on SCDES's interactive map. Call that number before you head to the water.
SCDNR also asks harvesters to cull in place. That means breaking off dead shell and smaller oysters and leaving them on the bank to keep growing, and taking only clusters or singles of larger oysters.
Bluffton's shell drop-off is at the end of Sawmill Creek Road
Every roast and every bucket ends with a pile of empty shells, and SCDNR wants them back. Shell left in an SCDNR bin becomes state property and goes toward rebuilding shellfish grounds along the South Carolina coast. Taking shell from a bin is illegal.
Bluffton's bin is at Trask Landing. From U.S. 278, take Sawmill Creek Road, which turns off 0.85 miles down from Bluffton Road, and follow it 3.6 miles to the landing at the end. The bin is a DNR trailer. If you're coming back from a Saturday at Coast, the Hilton Head bin is just inside the gate at the Coastal Discovery Museum, 70 Honey Horn Drive, on your first left, where a sign points the way. SCDNR's shell recycling line is (843) 953-9397.
Shells from the October 11 roast at Oyster Factory Park can go into the Trask Landing trailer and come back as habitat in a later season. Run the season out and you get one long stretch of Old Town evenings, from the festival in October to the Rotary roast in March.
Brandon and Tiffany at Willow & West follow the May River calendar from the first roast at Oyster Factory Park to the last Saturday at Nectar. If a season of Old Town evenings has you thinking about a place closer to the water, book a tailored consultation and we'll put together a plan around the way you want to spend your weekends.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
