This southwest Oklahoma town has been hosting an oyster fry for more than 30 years

When you hear the word oysters in Oklahoma, your inclination may be to think of the "Rocky Mountain" variety. And while calf fries are a staple on the menu at Cattlemen's and the town of Vinita has a whole festival dedicated to the delicacy, oysters from the ocean aren't all that uncommon in our state, either.

In fact, one small city in southwestern Oklahoma has been serving up a truckload of the bivalves, both fresh and fried, annually for more than 31 years, but the actual roots of the fry stretch back even further to the year 1952.

How did an oyster fry end up in southwest Oklahoma?

According to the Frederick chamber of commerce, the event now known as the Frederick Fantastic Oyster Fry, which will be held this year on March 2, actually began in the town of Manitou, about nine miles north of Frederick. In 1952, a man named Bramlett Johnson brought a bucket of oysters from the Gulf Coast of Texas to Manitou and fried them for the school board.

Soon after, the board began holding an annual oyster fry as a fundraiser. The Oyster Fry of southwest Oklahoma was held in Manitou until it outgrew the town.

That fry is also rooted in the history of Twyla Elsener, one of those responsible for organizing it each year for the city of Frederick.

"My grandfather was on the school board at Manitou when they started doing it up there, and then, of course, my dad graduated from Manitou," she said. "We went every year as a kid to Manitou to the oyster fry and so then in 1990, nobody was doing it and I was on the chamber board at that time here and I thought, 'Man, we can do this in Frederick.'"

Now, each the Oyster Fry committee makes the nearly eight-hour trek across the Red River and down to Port Lavaca, Texas, to load deep freezers with gallons of freshly caught oysters packed in ice and bring them back to Frederick, where they are immediately breaded and fried.

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"I ordered oysters back in January and December, and we will leave here the 29th of February, and we drive straight to the coast and pick them up," Elsener said. "They're never frozen."

Even with serving thousands from across the country each year, the Frederick Fantastic Oyster Fry has no history of running out of oysters. It does, however, have a history of positively impacting the small city's economy.

"It's amazing. We've had people fly in, we've had people drive in from Tulsa. We dip into Texas," Elsener said. "We try to keep a list, but that's almost impossible. But the impact is good."

The recipe for frying up oysters has not changed since the 1950s and the rest of the menu, with the exception of the potato chips, is locally made as well.

"The day before, we make the homemade coleslaw, and it is actually the original recipe from Manitou, which was 60 or 70 years ago. We still make it homemade. Our bread is homemade from a lady here in town," Elsener said. "You won't leave hungry, I promise. We don't say it's an all-you-can-eat, but I promise you won't leave hungry. You get plenty of food."

The team starts breading the morning of the fry at 8 a.m. with people from the community volunteering — some "bribed" with homemade breakfast burritos, according to Elsener — to make sure that the hundreds of pounds of oysters get prepped in time.

"We breaded about 80 gallons, and those are 7-pound gallons. There's usually 200 to 250 oysters in a gallon," Elsener said of the 2023 festival. "We literally have to wash every oyster by hand, and then every oyster is breaded by hand."

The event also benefits the Frederick Chamber itself, allowing it to offer programming throughout the year in the city. It also funds scholarships, keeping a small connection to the earliest days of the Oyster Fry benefitting local students.

"There's two scholarships that we give back to the seniors every year for helping, and a lot of times it's kids that's helped since they were old enough to walk because mom and dad helped," Elsener said.

When is this year's Frederick Fantastic Oyster Fry?

The Oyster Fry returns this year with fresh Texas Gulf Coast oysters, crafts and events scheduled throughout the day on March 2.

Diners can eat from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Prather Brown Cafeteria, 211 S 13 Street in Frederick. Meals will include a choice of fried oysters or raw oysters, with homemade slaw, chips, bread and a drink. You can even add on a homemade dessert to support the local 4H Club.

Advance tickets are $25 and may be purchased through the Chamber of Commerce office or at participating businesses in Frederick (ACE Hardware, BancFirst, Box Inc, Frazer Bank, and Jackson Funeral Home). You may also be invoiced for advanced tickets by emailing frederickcc@pldi.net. Tickets will cost $30 the day of the Oyster Fry.

A craft show will run in conjunction with the Oyster Fry, right next door at the Frederick School Gymnasium. Craft vendors will offer a wide variety of items for sale and exhibit, including toys, soaps, candy, jewelry, woodcrafts, leather crafts, candles, needlework, and more. There will also be a car show and Bingo and Singo for $5 per card at the Pioneer Townsite with prizes for each round.

The craft show and car shows will begin at 11 a.m. and run until 5 p.m. Bingo and Singo are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Guests can also visit free attractions throughout Frederick, like the Pioneer Townsite Museum, The Crawford Collection, and The Ramona Theater and take part in a downtown Frederick Walking Tour of various historical buildings and landmarks.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Frederick Fantastic Oyster Fry built on 70 years of history