Scene Around: A Gem of a Happy Hour for a Former Rumson Mayor

No joke. A former longtime Rumson mayor walks into an oyster bar …

Get the idea? No? OK, we’ll get to the punchline. It’s not every day that a retired forever Rumsonite and mayor hits a Florida happy hour with a 99-cent oyster special and ends up two pricey pearls on his discount plate.

It’s just the other day, in fact, that it really happened to former Rumson Mayor John Ekdahl. After a near lifetime in Rumson as resident, student, husband, parent and public official, Ekdahl, a few years ago, uprooted his very-steeped-in-Rumson roots and moved to Florida for his retirement.

One day, a few years later, he and his wife, Lolly, set out for a little Floridian happy hour nosh-by-the-sea in Ponte Vedra Beach at Palm Valley Outdoors Bar and Grill, a new hometown hangout for the former mayor, that included some 99-cent oysters on special.

The 99-cent mollusk gems that hailed from Louisiana, he said, soon turned into much more than the former mayor literally bargained for in a basic happy hour, making it a happy day. While people often muse that oysters are served up in their own little shell spoon, Ekdahl, while serving himself the mollusk, also ended up serving himself a couple of pearls.

The price was more than right. With odds at roughly one in 10,000 that an oyster lover will find a pearl embedded in their oyster, the former mayor was that one-off twice in one oyster-imbibing sitting. He let his Rumson friends know of his slurp of luck. And the comments ranged from a litany of good luck wishes to “Hope those are going into some earrings for Lolly!!” and an “Of course!” reply to “Glad you didn’t swallow them!”

Good thing he didn’t. Wild pearls are worth much more than 99 cents. Depending on size, surface quality, color and more, the value ranges from $300 to $1,500. The former mayor may just have a top value pearl in his clutches. One of those he’s holding looks pretty large and lustrous.

Others from Rumson, cheering on the former mayor, joked that, considering his luck, it’s time for him to go for a whole strand’s worth.

But, wait, how were those oysters? “Great, as always,” Ekdahl said in the post thread. Now, that’s a gem of a happy day!

Congrats, Mayor! Your world is your oyster! The line forms to the left for those who want to belly up to that oyster bar with you next!

— Photos/Palm Valley Outdoors Bar and Grill Facebook page