We were pumped to finally see Twitter catch the fire that is Pearl, our Halifax Oyster Festival mascot. On Sunday, local Amy Langdon, @alandon17, tweeted “This is the mascot for the Halifax Oyster Festival and I’m absolutely terrified of it.” And as of the time we scheduled this post, that statement was liked more than 200,000 times. People in Barcelona, New York, Vancouver, Dartmouth weighed in with opinions on Pearl’s briny appearance—monster or sexy oyster from the deep?
“My first thought was just, Wow, that’s scary,” Langdon told BuzzFeed News when it picked up the story on Monday. By then, we’d invited Langdon to this year’s festival, happening September 23 and 24 on the Halifax waterfront, so she was able to tell BuzzFeed how much she’s looking forward to being at Canada’s largest raw bar with Pearl. “I actually don’t like seafood at all, but I will be going because I absolutely have to meet her.”
When The Coast started Oysterfest six years ago, we wanted an anthropomorphized oyster to give the festival a feel, a look—a little bit creepy, a little bit sexy, as we told our talented colleague Aziza Asat. She came back a few hours later with a drawing of Pearl, just perfectly formed, and we were smitten. A few years later we asked local artist Helah Cooper if she could make us a costume with not much guidance, and she delivered Pearl *and* Earl (“THERE IS ANOTHER” as Langdon put it) made from paper mache, glue and a lot of paint.
Here are some of the best responses inspired by Langdon, Pearl and the Halifax attitude that sometimes you just have to say shuck it.
Related Stories
What’s the story behind the French naval ship in Halifax’s waters?
This article appears in Jul 1-31, 2022.
I don’t think they’re laughing with you…