It began with beer and mollusks and a bunch of guys, about 50 in all.
Led by Charles W. Meyer, these men held a St. Mary’s College alumni meeting on the banks of the San Antonio River and elected officers. The Fourth Illinois Band from Camp Wilson provided music.
No one knew at the time, but the remnants of that meeting in 1916 — empty shells scattered around a fire pit — foreshadowed an annual party with 70,000 people, 100,000 oysters and 32,000 chicken-on-a-stick with a jalapeño.
Today we call it Oyster Bake.
A signature Fiesta event since 1974, Oyster Bake has grown from a small gathering on the river bank to a sprawl of people, vendors and live bands in the Pecan Grove at St. Mary’s University.
Known as a “party with a purpose,” Oyster Bake supports student scholarships.
“I think over its history, Oyster Bake has raised in the ballpark of $11 million for students,” said Sean Strater, former St. Mary’s Alumni Association president and Fiesta Oyster Bake Chair for 2025. “We give around 80 scholarships a year, totaling around half a million dollars. It’s a four year commitment we give to students.”
This year’s event, the 109th, will feature two days of food, drink and live music on three “official” stages, starting Friday. Oysters will be served baked, fried and raw, a tradition no one from the first alumni meeting could have imagined.
Weather permitting, Oyster Bake will forge new memories and stir old ones, some nearly forgotten in the slow crawl of history.
According to university archives and old newspaper articles, Meyer served as the first chef and chairman of Oyster Bake in 1916, a year in which Dwight Eisenhower served as St. Mary’s football coach. (Yes, President Eisenhower.) In 1972, the San Antonio Express-News reported the first oysters were “liberally laced with hot sauce and served with crackers. Later, by popular demand, shrimp was added to the fare.”
Curiously, the newspaper offers different dates for the first gathering. On March 31, 1963, the paper reported, ““The unique celebration, which has drawn hundreds of alumni and their families back to the campus each year since 1919 features fresh oysters roasted in their shells over a barbecue pit.”
Two years later, the Express-News reported that Meyer served as the first chairman “from the first Oyster Bake in 1918 through 1946.”
Four years later, the paper wrote, “The 1969 oyster bake bears little resemblance to the first event, held in 1917. …”
Conflicting dates aside, fascinating details emerge from university records and newspaper archives. A small trench served as the first barbecue pit near the front gate of the college. Oyster Bake moved to a theater at St. Mary’s until a flood in 1921 pushed the event to an incomplete gym on campus.
On Feb. 16, 1928, Meyer convened Oyster Bake outdoors after an election of alumni association officers in the Francis Memorial Library. The Rattler, the school newspaper, reported, “Everyone present did full justice to the refreshments that were served, especially to the two barrels of lucious Port Lavaca oysters roasted to a turn by the skilled chef.”
In 1929, St. Mary’s relocated from the river bank to its present location on the West Side and brought Oyster Bake with it. Two years later, a keg of beer and a barrel and a half of oysters were purchased, along with charcoal and horseradish, for $26.95.
Attendance and expenses grew slowly, even after the event moved to the Pecan Grove in 1937. Oyster Bake cost almost $70 to produce in 1942 and nearly $290 by 1957. Oyster Bake drew an estimated crowd of 500 in 1952 and 1,500 in 1965.
The student scholarship program began modestly. In 1965, the St. Mary’s Alumni Association awarded its first scholarship, worth $540 for one year of tuition, from a pool of 47 high school applicants. In 1968, the scholarship increased to $800 for one year.
As Oyster Bake evolved from an alumni-and-friends gathering to a fundraising event in the 1960s, new traditions emerged. An oyster opening contest (since discontinued) attracted attention in 1963 with prizes. An Express-News article advised, “A screwdriver, a pair of pliers or strong knife is recommended. ….”
Fiesta event status in 1974 elevated Oyster Bake’s profile, generating greater media coverage and swelling public attendance.
A record crowd of more than 50,000 converged on campus for the 75th anniversary celebration in 1991. According to news reports, two miles of chain link fence and five entertainment stages were erected. An estimated 3,700 volunteers served 2,500 pounds of fajita meat and an unreported number of oysters.
“I wore the Oyster Bake costume in 1991 as a student,” said Steve Rosenauer, Fiesta San Antonio Commission executive director and former Oyster Bake director. “I was ‘Shuckie.’ That was back when Oyster Bake was only one day. It went to two days in 1993.”
Oyster Bake celebrated its 75th anniversary two years after the current Oyster Bake Chair, Sean Strater, was born. He attended his first event as a college freshman in 2008.
“I thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Strater, a Dallas native. “My parents came to town and we spent the weekend together, walking around, eating food. I vividly remember sitting on a little wall, talking to my mom, eating a chicken-on-a-stick with a jalapeno and listening to music.”
With more than a century of Oyster Bake history behind him, Strater hopes to put his own mark on the event.
“There are going to be some new things, new bands, new food,” he said. “One I’m excited about are the churro bites. They’re fried with cream fillings. We tried these out at a homecoming oyster bake for alumni and they were a big hit.”
Strater has arranged for Oyster Bake to partner with the Network for Young Artists to provide a place for local talent to perform. “The artists will use this experience, grow from it, and, hopefully, become the next big thing,” he said.
Oyster Bake, one could say, has become a pretty big thing. What began with a barrel of oysters and a keg of beer has grown into an event that costs $2 million to produce. From a riverbank to a Pecan Grove, a long ago gathering has evolved into a two-day Fiesta spectacle.
A single-day general admission ticket costs $30. Check the event website for the full Oyster Bake music line-up on the rock, country and Tejano stages.
