Around 20,000 Bluff Oysters will lure thousands of people from all over New Zealand and beyond when the 2019 Bluff Oyster and Food Festival takes place in Bluff on Saturday, May 25.

Tickets were sold out months ago for a day that features the iconic Bluff Oyster and other succulent southern seafood such as blue cod, paua, salmon, kina, muttonbirds, scallops, mussels, seafood chowder and even

crayfish cheese rolls.

The gates will open at 10.30am before the traditional "Piping in of the Oyster" and the reciting of the "Ode to the Oyster" by Bluff Town crier Ian Holland at 11.00am.

The popular oyster competitions will take place in Shed 3 with a range of oyster opening competitions followed by the oyster eating races.

Vic Pearsey of Bluff will be gunning for her ninth title in succession in the Ladies Open this year. Last year, she opened her 50 Bluff oysters in 3 minutes 28 seconds but two years ago managed the feat in 2 minutes 43 seconds.

Shane Wixon has been the one to beat in the Men’s Open since 2015, his winning time for 50 oysters last year 3 minutes 02 seconds, short of his own personal best of 2 minutes 36 seconds.

Ricci Grant of Barnes Oysters has been the runner-up behind Wixon on every one of those years, even equalling his time in 2016 only to lose a tiebreaker to establish a winner with a further 20 oysters.

The popular oyster eating competitions follow the oyster opening events and participants are chosen from the crowd to down one dozen of Bluff’s best in the fastest possible time. Daryl "Dagwood" MacDonald of Blenheim is heading south to try to take his fourth consecutive Oyster Eating title in his fourth visit to the festival.

A new event was added to the eating contests last year – the Wasabi Chilli Challenge. The inaugural competition was won by Dave Vaile of Oamaru, who admitted afterwards that he and his workmates frequently have their own chilli eating competitions.