George Hastings is back in it!
Severna Park uber-oyster-shucker George Hastings has just won the National Oyster Shucking Championship.
The state highway engineer turned shucker will be going to Ireland this spring to compete in the world championship. This news comes to us from the Associated Press, who got it from the Department of Natural Resources.
Eight years ago, when he went to Galway to compete, a Sun reporter (not me, sadly) tagged along. He came in second that year.
But George has always wanted to go back and win the thing, so this may be his year.
For those of you (and again, I sadly include me in this group) who will probably not be making it to Ireland to watch him in action, you can see his fancy knifework at Nick's in Cross Street Market and at many private parties in Annapolis and the Eastern Shore. readers may know of other places, too, so feel free to add them.
I got to watch him do his stuff at a party I was covering a year ago at the Hyatt. Definitely worth catching.
I report on the environment and Chesapeake Bay. A native of West Virginia, I have focused mainly on Maryland's environment since moving here in 1983. Along the way, I've crewed aboard a skipjack in the bay, canoed under city streets up the Jones Fall from the Inner Harbor, and gone deep underground in a western Maryland coal mine. Recently, I have been covering the growth and development transforming the landscape. I love seafood, rambles in the country and good stories. I hope to share some here.
