Fresh from their appearance at the Fisherman’s Fair on Saturday on the grounds of Ashawagh Hall in Springs, the East Hampton Town Trustees have set Oct. 13 as the date of their annual Largest Clam Contest.
The early-autumn tradition, to be held on the grounds of the Lamb Building on Bluff Road in Amagansett, where the trustees’ offices are housed, both celebrates the bounty of the town’s waterways and serves to educate the public as to the nine-member body’s role in the town’s management. A perennial crowd-pleaser, the event includes a clam chowder contest and free raw bar and chowder.
Representatives from the town’s shellfish hatchery and the East End Classic Boat Society are typically on hand to explain their functions, the latter selling raffle tickets for the boat its members construct each year.
The trustees also typically sell T-shirts, including a recent offering that depicts the “balloon fish” designed by Susan McGraw Keber of the trustees to raise awareness about the danger balloons pose to marine life. Proceeds are allocated to the trustees’ William T. Rysam scholarship fund, which is awarded to graduating high school students.