This year's Oyster Festival is proving its reputation as being one of the top three events on the east coast. The 20th annual Oyster Festival begins on Friday, Oct. 17 with a carnival and fireworks between 6:30 and 10 p.m. The Oyster Bay Supervisor's Race starts at 9 a.m. Oct. 17. The festival opening ceremonies take place at 11 a.m. on Oct. 18. The festival hours are from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

With a new location on the waterfront, it was a natural to feature a pirate invasion which takes place on Saturday and Sunday between 2 and 3 p.m. at the Tall Ships Pier. Pirates aboard the Christeen oyster sloop will storm the coastal schooner Phoenix, a replica of the type of vessels plying the waters of Long Island Sound at the turn of the century.

You can walk home with treasure! Try your luck at the 20th Anniversary Oyster Festival Annual Raffle which includes more options for the winner than ever! The lucky winner who purchases one of only 4,000 tickets being sold for $20 each will have the choice of a 2004 Honda Civic LX, Honda Accord LX, Honda CRV LX or Honda Odyssey LX (supplied by PS Honda) or an Angler 180F Fishing boat (supplied by Bridge Marine) or $20,000 in cash!

Food is an important part of the festival. Once again they have a great menu which features your favorite sea food, be it oysters, clams, lobster or shrimp: fried, steamed, on the half shell and in chowder. There is traditional festival fair such as sausage and peppers, steak sandwiches, apple pie and ice cream, sweet potato pie and ethnic specialties such as kielbasa sandwiches, Belgian waffle with strawberries and ice cream, bratwurst, falafel, Greek salad, zeppolis, empanadas, popusas and tostadas.

Come by LIRR and get a coupon for three free oysters. There will be free shuttle buses during festival hours from the Syosset Train Station (on the Port Jefferson line) to the Festival entrance. The train from Mineola leaves you at the festival area. Come by car and there is more downtown lots to park in this year since the festival is being held on the waterfront which means the downtown streets will not be closed off (only Audrey Avenue will be closed). You can use designated parking lots on Rt. 106 (north of 25A) to the Festival entrance. Lots include the Vernon Middle School and any other lots designated with signs along Rt. 106. The Planting Fields Arboretum Historic State Park will be available for parking on Sunday only.

Visit the tent-covered Arts & Crafts area featuring 150 artisans from around the country; see the exotic animal petting zoo; the boat and fishing simulators; and the Oyster Shucking & Eating Contests while hearing continuous musical entertainment. Visit the historic tall ships and visiting boats, and take a harbor tour while seeing the newly renovated waterfront area. For more information call 628-1625 or visit www.theoysterfest.com

Amidst the thousands of visitors Oyster Bay will see the weekend of Oyster Fest, one group of men will be most likely to stand out. Costumed in Revolutionary War uniforms, re-enactors representing Loyalist troops from the Queen's Rangers as well as other British units, will occupy the grounds of Raynham Hall Museum, 20 West Main Street, Oyster Bay. In 1779, this British garrison occupied Oyster Bay. Now, 224 years later, Raynham Hall invites you to be transported back to those times on Sunday, Oct. 19, to view this British re-enactment between 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Re-enactors will try and recruit children to enlist in their unit, using cooking demonstrations and military drills to give an up-close look at what a soldier's life entailed. Medical displays and live musket fire will also enhance the realities the Townsends and their neighbors felt throughout the momentous events occurring literally outside their front doors. There will also be colonial games for the children to try their hands at. Admission is $4 for adults; $3 for seniors and students; children 6 and under are free. Admission includes the encampment and entrance to the museum. For more information, please call the museum at 922-6808.

If you needed a reason for coming to this year's Oyster Festival, Oct. 18 and 19, consider this. The North Oyster Bay Baymen are selling lobsters and steamed clams to benefit 9-year old Matthew Fetzer of Bayville who is fighting Leukemia for the third time. The young man is on top of his challenge and understands the next procedure, a bone marrow transplant. He was in remission and now urgently needs the transplant.

Eileen Finke of Bayville is running this event, her third fundraiser for Matthew. "A donor has been found. He's very lucky. He was telling me all about it," she said. "His parents are doing a great job of keeping him on top of it. He is a very unusual 9-year old. His father, Bill, is a Bayman, a clammer." Eileen Finke's husband Joe is also a clammer.

In an effort to raise money for Matthew, his friends will be selling lobsters and steamers at the Oyster Festival. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go directly to Matthew. "We hope to raise a lot of money for him but we will not be able to raise any money for him unless we get volunteers to help. We need 75 to 100 people to help man Matthew's Seafood booth over the course of the festival. Without volunteers, we cannot be successful despite the fact that we have lots of food to sell for him. Right now we don't have nearly enough volunteers to be successful," they said.

The volunteers will be broken down into two-hour shifts. They need people to help with selling the food, cooking, set up and clean up. If you can spare just two hours that weekend, Matthew would really benefit from your generosity.

Bring your friends and have some fun helping out for a good cause. Call Matthew's friend, Eileen Finke at 516-628-8525 to volunteer.

"I did a fundraiser for him six years ago, and again last January and now I'm doing it at the Oyster Festival. I thought: 'Hey, 200,000 are coming into my backyard.' Let's see what we can do," she said.

Matthew relapsed in November 2001 and relapsed the second time in September 2003. His parents, Bill and Ann Fetzer are both self-employed and insurance will only cover partial cost of this last chance treatment. Matthew has two sisters, Morgan, 11 and Olivia, 6.

"The first time I did a fundraiser, I was a pre-school teacher. Another teacher and I held a big party in the St. Gertrude Parish Center. We raffled off tons of items. There was a big band playing. The next one was held at Steve's Pier One. That was a night full of auctions and raffles.

"There's another event happening on Nov. 14 at the Crescent Club," said Ms. Finke. Tickets cost $50 per person for hors d'oeuvres, dessert, music, cash bar, raffles, auctions and prizes. If you are unable to attend, you can send your donation to: The Matthew Fetzer Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 43, Bayville, NY 11709.

If you plan to attend, you will receive your tickets by mail prior to the event.

The Rotary Club of Oyster Bay, the presenters of Oyster Festival 2003, were planning on selling lobsters themselves. "Rotary gladly gave permission to the Baymen to sell them, and Rotary will do it next year," said Beverly Zembko Oyster Festival food promenade chair. They only allow one group to sell each food item to keep down competition amongst the non-profit groups that sell foodstuffs at the festival.

"They will be good lobsters," said Eileen Finke.