The Oyster Festival, one of the east coast's largest waterfront festivals, and a key fund-raising event for local charities, returns to Oyster Bay on Oct. 15 and 16 with a mixture of new activities and old favorites certain to entertain the entire family.

New this year, just in time to preview Halloween, is the "Haunted Ghost Ship." Helmed by a skeletal captain, this 180-foot rigger is home to a crew of ghostly sailors, a mad ship's surgeon, a homicidal sailor, and plenty of other hair-raising sights and sounds. Old salts will recognize the ship as the HMS Bounty, a replica of the ship whose sailors mutinied against Captain William Bligh in 1789.

Other new activities this year include a Kids Entertainment Area with an exotic animal petting zoo, where youngsters can kid kangaroos and yack with yaks, and a customized carving booth where master knifesman Fred Steffen will chainsaw carve just about anything with tree limbs, from his own sketches to those provided by customers. Visit the pirate encampment and join them as they roam in quest of buried treasure. On the waterfront visitors can visit the tall ship Kalmar Nickel, a replica of one of America's pioneering colonial ships.

Returning festival attendees will find their old favorites are back again. The Food Promenade on the waterfront highlights oysters prepared just about every way, ethnic foods and the festival's famous apple pie. Adding to the fun once again are over 150 artisans offering handmade crafts under a tent, the graceful Tall Ships, a 5K Run, music bands, stilt walkers, amusement rides and the annual oyster eating and shucking contests.

The festival, organized and operated by the Oyster Bay Charitable Fund, has generated over $5 million for local humanitarian causes and nonprofit organizations throughout its history. Currently, revenues from the event help fund approximately 30 nonprofit organizations in the Town of Oyster Bay.

"For a lot of the nonprofits, the Oyster Festival is the central fund-raising event of the year," said Lance Elder, co-chair of the event. "The Festival offers oysters in just about every edible form you can imagine. The nonprofit organizations go all out to have a great selection of not just oysters, shrimp and clams, but a great variety of ethnic foods, funnel cakes, All-American hamburgers and great steak sandwiches, roasted corn and phenomenal desserts. Without this event, many of the nonprofits would not be able to perform the services they provide to the local community."

As always, the Oyster Festival Committee would like to thank our major sponsors North Shore University-Syosset Hospital, Cablevision and The Waterfront Center, without whom the success of our event would not be assured.