Latter hopes the event will become a tradition and continue every year.

Latter became a supporter of the Special Olympics while attending college, where he organized golf tournaments whose profits went to the Special Olympics.

Sharky's Seafood Olympic's first attraction was an oyster-eating contest. Each contestant needed to consume 20 oysters in 30 seconds.

To facilitate the task, participants received bowls of lemon, bottles of hot sauce and water pitchers. Sharky's employees Meagan and Jeff, who donated their time, served the food. Steve Ramona, manager of Sharky's and a longtime friend of Latter, kept track of the time.

At the sound of the whistle, the contestants dove into their plates of oysters.

One of the participants, identified only as "Mark," a crowd favorite for the oyster competition, had a methodical style. He grabbed a shell and sucked the oyster down while grabbing the next shell.

His friend, "Red," who had talked Mark into the contest, said, "We'll find out if we're still friends when he's done."

"Tom" and "Hemi" each had oyster shells flying from their hands as they did their best to gobble the most possible. "Kristen," the only woman to brave the oyster event, and "Brian" each used hot sauce on their oysters to help their efforts.

The next event featured prawns. Each contestant was given 30 seasoned and cooked prawns on a plate and two minutes to eat as many as they could.

"Frank," "Kim," "Robin" and "Denise D.," the daytime bartender for Sharky's, lined up their prawns and readied themselves for the whistle. At the end of the two minutes, Denise and Robin had scored six, with Frank and Kim tied at 14.

The crowd outside of Sharky's grew to about 35, with onlookers betting who could eat more of what.

Orders were taken as to how the next contestants would like their one-pound salmon fillet prepared for the next event—Cajun-style, peppered or just grilled?

"Tom," "Denise," "Lisa," "Julie" and "Malcom" took their seats as the plates of salmon were brought out. This was a contest of speed. The first person to finish the entire salmon would be declared the victor.

At the sound of the whistle, all table manners were thrown out as handfuls of salmon were dunked into bowls of tartar sauce and stuffed into the contestants' mouths.

With a smile on her face and lemon juice on her chin, it was Denise who finished the salmon first, in one minute.

The event's next competition consisted of eating as much as possible of a Sharky's special: pasta in sherry cream sauce and smoked salmon. At the end of the five-minute time limit, Malcolm was declared the winner, having consumed 1.9 pounds of the pasta.

The night's final competition was the dessert contest, featuring burnt-almond cakes donated by Dick's Bakery. Latter himself participated in this event.

The whistle blew and the cake began to fly, resulting in a close contest between Latter and Lisa.

Sharky's Oyster Bar & Grill, 1151 Lincoln Ave. Open Tuesday­Sunday, 11 a.m. ­2 p.m. for lunch and 5­10 p.m. for dinner. For more information, call 408.279.0996.