The San Leon Oyster Festival was founded by Prestige Oyster’s very own Lisa Halili.

CEO Johnny Halili migrated from Albania to the U.S in the 1970’s. Landing in the projects of Chicago, Johnny got his first job at a local car wash. After moving from job to job, Johnny made his way down to Louisiana after hearing of work from his cousin. Having never been on a boat, Johnny began working as a deckhand. After many hard years of working as a deckhand, Johnny Halili bought his first boat – Lady Katherine.

Johnny’s best deckhand was his wife Lisa, together they weathered many cold winters oyster harvesting and hot summers shrimping to create an oyster company unlike any other. In the summer of 2010, Prestige Oysters installed the Quintus 350L high pressure processing machine  and Cryo-Quick tunnel to process oysters. In 2013 Johnny acquired Joeys Oyster Company’s state of the art facility with HPP technology in Amite, Louisiana.

At present day, Prestige Oyster’s is still a family run business with Johnny, Lisa and son Raz running day to day operations. Prestige Oyster’s Inc. has two full time processing plants and provides market for over 100 boats stretching from Texas and Louisiana up to Maryland.

We hope you attend our 5th Annual San Leon Oyster Festival on November 1st 2025

Donations and proceeds from the San Leon Oyster Fest are dedicated to the continuing restoration of the public oyster reefs and health of Galveston Bay – The Pearl of the Gulf Coast!

MISSION STATEMENT: The San Leon Oyster Fest is a non profit 501©3 educational and environmental restoration organization whose mission is to protect, restore and sustain oyster reefs in Galveston Bay, educate the general public on the importance of the ecosystem, protect the oyster industry, and to collaborate with other agencies to achieve our goal.

Rett Reef, previously known as San Leon Reef, was a popular sport fishing reef before its destruction by Hurricane Ike in 2008. Located less than a quarter-mile off the shoreline of Pier 6 Seafood, San Leon Oyster Fest recognized the impact that this reef had on the local San Leon fishing community and the environmental benefits that oyster reefs provide to the surrounding area. San Leon Oyster Fest decided to restore and rename the reef to “Rett Reef” to bring awareness to Rett Syndrome, a rare genetic mutation affecting the brain development in girls. After years of permitting and planning, San Leon Oyster Fest, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and Texas Sea Grant, restored 10 acres of vital oyster habitat at Rett Reef in May 2024 using recycled oyster shell donated by Pier 6 Seafood. This was the very first non-harvestable oyster reef restoration led by a commercial oyster harvester in Texas and serves as an inspiration for anyone who wants to become more involved in oyster reef restoration.
An important part of any restoration project is understanding the short- and long-term success of the restoration! The Nature Conservancy coordinates quarterly monitoring in collaboration with San Leon Oyster Fest, Texas Sea Grant, and Prestige Oysters to track the number of oysters on the reef, the average size of oysters, spat recruitment, and reef area. Monitoring is a very important step in oyster reef restoration that provides insight on how the reef is doing. The information we learn from monitoring Rett Reef will advance science and refine oyster reef restoration strategies in the future. It is a win-win scenario for both oyster harvesters and restoration practitioners to learn about all available restoration and management strategies and work together to identify the best
opportunities to increase and sustain our oyster populations throughout Texas.