LONG
BEACH
RAZOR CLAM FESTIVAL
Clam digging lessons, chowder tastings, fritter cook-off , barbecue, live music, contests, prizes and more await Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19
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This is it: the big time. Clam frit-
ter cook-offs don’t get any bigger
than this, and neither do frying pans.
It’s the Clam Fritter Cook-Off, one of
many events this weekend at the Long
Beach Razor Clam Festival.
With the longest beach in the
world, a beach that is smack dab in
the middle of the country God made
for razor clams, it was only natural that
Long Beach, Washington, hold a clam
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had the idea back in 1940. The same
Wellington March Sr. who went broke
raising rutabagas in North Dakota and
then founded Marsh’s Free Museum
in Long Beach. The man who made
Jake the Alligator Man famous decid-
ed he could do the same for a creature
that tasted like a clam and looked like
a straight razor.
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could sample the “World’s Largest
Clam Fritter” made in the “World’s
Largest Frying Pan.” Women skated
on slabs of butter to grease the pan.
The fritter required 200 pounds of ra-
zor clams, 20 dozen eggs, 10 gallons
of milk, 13 gallons of salad oil, and 20
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els were used to maneuver the fritter.
The original festival came to an
end eight years later, due to a declining
clam population and the fact that, after
eating their share of the enormous frit-
ter, nobody felt like dining at the local
restaurants. The festival was revived in
2013, but without the girls in razor clam
bathing suits, which had been a popular
attraction at the original festival.
Also gone is the World’s Largest
Clam Fritter, replaced by the fritter con-
test for Ilwaco High School culinary
arts students, held at 3:30 p.m. at Veter-
ans Memorial Park. There is also a new
World’s Largest Frying Pan (the origi-
nal rusted out), and because there won’t
Submitted photo
Chefs work on the World’s Largest Clam Fritter in 1940.
be a huge fritter, this one is divided into
four sections, which allows four teams
of students to fry their fritters at once.
All the teams have the same coach-
es, culinary arts instructors Laurie
Anderson and David Campiche of
Seaview’s Shelburne Inn. Last year’s
winner was not a team, though. Mar-
ilyn Thomson won it all with a fritter
made with onion, potato and cranber-
ry juice. “I experimented with tons of
recipes for two weeks,” she says, “and
then found some things in the fridge
and changed to a totally different reci-
pe on the last day.”
This year Thomson is back, and ev-
ery culinary student is clam gunning for
her. She isn’t fazed by it, though. She’s
looking to win again with a fritter that
has bacon and “a secret ingredient.”
Her fellow students have other
ideas. Veronica Sommerville, for one,
is hyped: “I’m totally going to win.”
She and teammate Maria Aguilar
weren’t in last year’s competition, so
it’s a wily champion versus energetic
upstarts with new ideas. Like a fritter
made with carrots and celery. Som-
merville is also unforthcoming about
Coastal Life
Story by DWIGHT CASWELL
4 | April 16, 2015 | coastweekend.com
her
recipe.
“We’re still
doctoring it
up,” she says.
There’s
more
than
fritters to the
festival. Never
dug for clams?
There are clam
digging lessons
Saturday at 5:45
and Sunday at
6:30. That’s a.m.
From there, go to
the clam cleaning
demonstration
at the Port of Il-
waco. That lasts
until 10:30 a.m.,
giving you time to make it to the Am-
ateur Chowder Competition, which is
followed by the (professional) Clam
Chowder Taste-Off, both at the Long
Beach Elks Lodge.
If you choose to dig clams, there
are competitions from 8 a.m. to noon
Saturday for the biggest and smallest
clams. Also the best-looking clam,
which will take some perceptive
judging. If you didn’t dig, there’s a
“How Many Clams in the Tank?”
contest. A $100 prize awaits each
winner.
Bathing clam beauties will be
strolling the streets (will there be a
return to the clam bathing suits of
Photos by Dwight
Caswell
Above: From left:
Marilyn Thomson,
Veronica Sommer-
ville, Cedric Burton
and Jasmine
Harbaugh work on
their clam fritter
on the World’s
Largest Frying
Pan.
Left: Marilyn
Thomson, an
Ilwaco High
School culinary
arts student,
shows off the
fi nished product
of clam fritters.
yesteryear?). Queen La De Da’s
Mermaid Lagoon offers “free mer-
maid photos and fun” at the Dennis
Company, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Saturday. There’s a beer garden and
barbecue (not just clams), Saturday
from 3 to 6 p.m., and Anita Margar-
ita and the Rattlesnakes play during
the fritter cook-off (they don’t have
much to do with clams, but they’re
hot musicians).
A day of fun for all, and don’t for-
get to visit the replica of the original
World’s Largest Frying Pan, which is
next to the World’s Largest Spitting
Clam in downtown Long Beach. You
can make it spit for only 25 cents.
2014 Wining
Clam Fritter
Marilyn Thomson took the top
prize last year with this clam fritter
recipe. (All recipes posted on http://
longbeachrazorclamfestival.com/eat)
Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose fl our
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
9 ounces minced clams
1 egg
3 Tablespoons milk
1/3 cup diced onion
1/3 cup grated potato
1/3 cup of cranberries (mashed for
juice)
1 cup bread crumbs
oil for frying
Sweet and Spicy Tartar Sauce
1 cup garlic mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 Tablespoon horseradish
1 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice