A mermaid, chowder, a beard and guitar
Long Beach Razor Clam
Festival off ers variety
Long Beach
Razor Clam Festival
The festival is free and open to all.
BY PATRICK WEBB
Whoever thought bivalve mollusks could
be fun as well as tasty? Organizers of the
Long Beach Razor Clam Festival do. The
event, which celebrates a favorite regional
pastime, off ers a range of daytime activities
including contests, food and drink tastings
and live music. Visitors can also check out a
pirate on hand and a mermaid in a tank.
Begin the day with clam digging lessons
at the Bolstad Pavilion at 7 a.m. on Saturday
and 7:30 a.m. on Sunday. There will also be
a clam cleaning demonstration at 9:30 a.m.
on Saturday on the Bolstad Beach Approach.
Food trucks, vendors, a slide for kids and art-
ists selling handcrafted items, will be set up
at Veterans Field on Third Street. North Jetty
Brewing will also host a beer and wine gar-
den. The festival’s Clam Chowder Taste
Off runs on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.,
with bragging rights on the line for one fortu-
nate local restaurant. Last year, The Chowder
Stop and The Cove Restaurant tied for fi rst
place with Castaway’s Seafood Grille plac-
ing second.
An amateur chowder cooking contest will
take place at 11 a m. on Saturday, with cash
prizes totaling $400. An oyster shucking con-
test is also planned for noon on Sunday. For
those who have been out clamming, Den-
nis Company Ace in Long Beach, will off er
prizes from 8 a.m. to noon for the largest and
smallest clams brought into the store.
The Long Beach Peninsula has long been
famed for its “world’s largest frying pan.”
One version used to travel around the North-
west, appearing at parades to lure inland visi-
tors to the peninsula. Now it is part of a static
display downtown. A replica will also be on
hand for organizers to cook clam fritter sam-
ples on Saturday afternoon. Previous local
fi gures who have helped cook and serve have
included a mayor and a state senator.
A clam festival was a fi xture of the penin-
sula’s activities calendar for years, but took a
break before a revival nine years ago. Dianna
Clamming for those 15 or older requires a
license from the Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife, available from local
vendors or at www.fi shhunt.dfw.wa.gov.
Harvesting restrictions apply.
www.longbeachrazorclamfestival.com
LEFT: Clam fritters are among treats in store at the Long Beach Razor Clam Festival. At a prior festival, Dean Takko, right, a former state senator, was
among those recruited to cook and serve the tasty bivalves. RIGHT: Razor clams are a staple of life on the Long Beach Peninsula. Many coastal families
share favorite recipes including chowder and fritters. The Razor Clam Festival celebrates them all.
Texas Tribute will perform a concert of ZZ Top
hits at the Long Beach Razor Clam Festival.
Knight, offi ce administrator for the Long
Beach Visitors and Merchant Services Cen-
ter, fi rst became involved in 2014 and has
been co-chair since 2016.
“Clam digging is a long-standing tradition
on the Long Beach Peninsula and the Razor
Clam Festival enhances that tradition by add-
ing some good old-fashioned outdoor fam-
ily fun,” Knight said. “We have added more
attractions this year, including a large slide,
a live mermaid in a sea tank, food trucks
at the Bolstad Approach, and much more,”
she added. On Saturday, local favorite band
The Oyster Crackers will perform the Veter-
an’s Field stage, followed by Texas Tribute,
a regional ZZ Top cover band. The Oyster
Crackers are a Long Beach Peninsula based
musical group whose members blend folk
and Americana, much of their material orig-
inal. The group recently recorded an album
and performed virtually, but has now begun
resuming live concerts.
The original Oyster Crackers, consisting
of Bette Lu Krause, Crystal Mack and Rita
Smith, has been augmented by a fourth musi-
cian, cellist Phyllis Taylor. Smith, a guitarist
who sings and plays mandolin, is delighted
that Taylor has joined the group. ”I do some
instrumentals with her, and Crystal and Bette
Lu back us on guitars,” Smith said. “It really
has added a new dimension to our group.”
The Oyster Crackers will perform at
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1:30 p.m. on Saturday. “We are looking for-
ward to it,” Smith said. “Because the people
are going to be milling about, and they are
going to sit down and have their lunch. Peo-
ple are not going to be listening for two hours
solid,” she added.
Texas Tribute will perform a selection of
ZZ Top classics on Saturday at 4 p.m. Band
members perform in shaggy beards to imper-
sonate their longtime musical heroes, and
have been known to play slide guitar using a
saucepan, a Dr. Pepper bottle or a sake bottle.
They are brought to the stage by Texas native
Bruce T. Smith of North Coast Records in
Seaside. Rae Gordon Band, based in Ore-
gon City, will fi ll the festival’s 11 a.m. and
1 p.m. performing slots on Sunday. Gordon,
an award-winning blues singer, will perform
with Kivett Bednar on guitar, Scott Frank-
lin on saxophone and Allan Kalik on trum-
pet. It’s bound to be a tasty and memorable
lineup.
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