October 8, 2026
"When the French discovered the Pass back in 1699, one of the things that really drew them to this area was our oyster beds," Pass Christian Main Street Foundation President Wendy Diaz Del Valle told WLOX this week. That history now has a physical form. The city's public works crew is setting painted oyster sculptures along a route from City Hall to West Harbor. Five were in place as of the September 28 report, twelve more were on the way, and organizers said all 17 would be installed by Cruisin' the Coast.
Put this fall's calendar beside that route and the two overlap almost completely. The Saturday market, the Cruisin' nights, the October book events and the November harbor weekend all happen on the same stretch of Fleitas Avenue, Davis Avenue, Scenic Drive and Market Street where the oysters are going up. The trail runs straight through the season's calendar.
Main Street's project began with the oyster shape. The foundation then put out a call for artists and lined up sponsors, and "out of that, we have the Oysters in the Pass project," Diaz Del Valle said. Each one carries a small piece of the Pass, from a snowman on a beach to a colorful octopus. Organizers describe it as the only public art installation of its kind on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
A full list of all 17 hasn't been published yet. WLOX has named four oysters and where they stand, and each address also shows up somewhere on this fall's calendar.
| Oyster | Location | What else happens there this fall |
|---|---|---|
| "The Collector" | Pass Christian Olive Oils and Vinegars, 141 Davis Avenue | Davis Avenue's Sunday live music at Whiskey Prime, 115 Davis |
| "Catching the Big Fish" | 301 East Scenic Drive, across from Pass Christian Books/Cat Island Coffeehouse | The Coastal Shindig book premiere, October 16 |
| "Pelican Post" | Shaggy's Pass Harbor, 120 South Hiern Avenue | Down the street from the Pass Christian Public Library at 111 Hiern |
| "Sandyman" | Trinity Dog Park, 325 St. Louis Street | Near Trinity Episcopal's pumpkin patch on Church Avenue |
Lucinda Lenfant painted "Catching the Big Fish." She said the piece took about a month and was inspired by David Lynch's Catching the Big Fish, which uses fishing analogies to describe how creative ideas arrive. "She's like some kind of beautiful siren, you know, with ideas just flowing from her head down her hair," Lenfant said of the figure she painted. It is also her first public art project in Pass Christian.
The full trail is meant to be a walk, so its starting point matters. Most of the fall's Saturdays begin at a park just off Highway 90.
The Pass Market at War Memorial Park, 103 Fleitas Avenue, opens every Saturday. It celebrated its 20th birthday in early September. It began one year after Hurricane Katrina, and it now sells arts and crafts, pickled and jarred goods, food, lemonade and woodworking, with activities for children. Chad Truxillo, a vendor with The Coastal Cajun, described the draw this way: "friends running into friends, families running into families, and just enjoying a Saturday morning in the park." The Ingram family put it more simply: "It's nice just every weekend to have your neighbors, your friends, the people you see at dinner, like in a morning environment."
The posted hours don't match. WLOX lists the market at 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., while Main Street's community calendar lists 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., weather permitting. If you're planning to arrive late, check before you go.
This fall, two Saturdays add an event on top of the market at the same park.
The butterfly weekend actually starts two days early. On Thursday, October 1, the 5th Annual Butterfly Count for Southwest Harrison County meets at 9:30 a.m. in front of the library. Craig Marks, author of The Butterflies of Louisiana, will guide the group through coastal habitats under North American Butterfly Association guidelines. Registration is required and costs $3. Out on the water the same day as the festival, the Pass Christian Yacht Club runs Rafferty #1, according to the Gulf Yachting Association schedule.
The 30th-anniversary Cruisin' the Coast runs October 4 through 11, and Pass Christian is one of its venues. The city's events stay close to the park. Burn 'Em Up in the Pass, the city's official burnout, takes over Fleitas Avenue on Thursday, October 8, from 5 p.m. to dusk. That's the same street as the market's address. Pass In The Night follows on Friday, October 9, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., with entertainment by Waylon Thibodeaux. The official Cruisin' schedule lists it under Pass Christian but doesn't give a specific site. Earlier that week, on Monday, October 5, the Pass Christian Bottle Shoppe hosts a Crittenden Collector's Bottle sale.
Timing is what ties Cruisin' to the trail. Organizers set Cruisin' week as the date to have all 17 oysters in place. So the crowds coming for the cars on Fleitas Avenue will likely be the first to see the full route from City Hall to West Harbor.
After Cruisin' ends, the busiest address on the calendar belongs to an oyster. On Friday, October 16, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., New Orleans hosts Michael Harold and Quinn Peeper launch Coastal Shindig at 301 East Scenic. The book is about their coastal retreat in Pass Christian. Pass Books will sell copies there, and wine and hors d'oeuvres are complimentary. That's the address WLOX gave for Lenfant's "Catching the Big Fish." The next afternoon, Saturday, October 17, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., Mississippi authors Dori Lowe and Brandy Perry sign Unique Eats and Eateries of Mississippi across the street at Pass Books/Cat Island Coffeehouse. On a Saturday you can fit that in after the market.
The library is running an evening thread of its own. Science Café on the Coast brings USM Professor Amy Slagle to the Pass Christian Public Library on October 16 at 5 p.m. for a free talk on religion and the afterlife. The talk is tied to this year's One Book One Pass selection, Sebastian Junger's In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face To Face With the Idea of an Afterlife.
Other October regulars on the same streets:
There's also something new on Highway 90. Salty Kisses Boutique, owned by Ashley Tripoli and Summer Tallant, opened as one of three retail tenants at the Eagan Beachfront Development's opening event on September 26. Two 20-unit long-term rental condominium buildings there are expected to be ready by December 2026.
The trail ends at West Harbor, and so does the fall calendar. On Saturday, November 7, the city's 3rd annual Car Show runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Pass Christian Harbor, 115 Market Street. On the same day, the Pass Christian Yacht Club runs Rafferty #2 on the GYA schedule. Repair work is underway at the harbor during all of this. The city's Hurricane Ida harbor repairs began April 24, 2026, under a $1,270,533.80 contract that includes flow-through decking, with completion estimated for November 20, 2026.
The One Book One Pass season closes on Thursday, November 19, when Sebastian Junger speaks at the Randolph Center, 315 Clark Avenue, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Coastal Mississippi's event listing shows admission as free. Also in November, Main Street hosts a farm-to-table dinner under the Davis Pavilion. The date hasn't been announced.
One new spot sits off the route. On Henderson Point, just outside the city, Tiger Beach opened in September at 103 W. Bayview Avenue with its casual restaurant, Sails. The upstairs Salt Fire dining room is still under construction, and the only opening estimate so far is "a few months." Back downtown, Christmas in the Pass is set for December 4, from 4 to 9 p.m.
The 17 oysters will be done before most of these events happen, and they're meant to stay. At HL Raymond Properties, we're glad to see Pass Christian artists and sponsors putting the town's oyster history on its own sidewalks. If you walk the trail from City Hall to West Harbor this fall, send us your photos and we'll help spread the word about Oysters in the Pass. Discover Gulf Coast Living.
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