The Clam Contest Cometh
The East Hampton Town Trustees’ 24th annual Largest Clam Contest is set for Sunday at noon at the Donald Lamb Building in Amagansett.
As at last year’s event, a clam chowder competition will be judged by a writer from The Star and trustee staffers and feature both Manhattan and New England styles, East Hampton Town Councilman Fred Overton will serve his famous Bonac chowder, and there will be chowder and clams on the half shell for all. The Dongan Patent, the 1686 document that created the trustees and granted them authority over the Town of East Hampton, will be on display.
A prize will be awarded to both the adult and child submitting the largest clam dug from each of four waterways: Lake Montauk, Accabonac Harbor, Three Mile Harbor, and Napeague Harbor. An additional prize awaits the holder of the largest overall quahog.
Through Saturday, contestants can take their entries to the Seafood Shop in Wainscott, Gosman’s Fish Market in Montauk, the Amagansett Seafood Shop, or Stuart’s Seafood Market, also in Amagansett. Documentation including the contestant’s name and the date and waterway from which the clam was harvested will be recorded. On Sunday, the trustees will weigh and measure each quahog. Following the competition, the bivalves will be returned to the waters whence they came.
Money raised by the $1 entry fee for the largest clam and chowder competitions will fund the Capt. William T. Rysam Fund, which the trustees oversee. Interest earned on the fund balance is used for a $500 scholarship awarded to a local student each year.
Representatives from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, the East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery, the town’s Natural Resources and Sanitation Departments, the Girl Scouts, and the East End Classic Boat Society are also scheduled to attend.
Along with the recycling of every can or bottle of water and soda served at the event, the trustees would like all shells from the clams and oysters served to be saved for recycling and returned to the sea. “We take away all this calcium and biological material from the sea,” said Deborah Klughers, a trustee. Increasing acidification of the oceans, she said, means that “these organisms are having a tough time building their shells. It also creates habitat — substrate for oysters, scallops, little fish. Also, a true oyster reef can attenuate wave action and stop erosion. That’s big picture, but on a smaller scale, let nature have back what we’ve taken out.”
Last year’s event saw 42 contestants vying for largest clam honors. Urban Reininger took the prize for Three Mile Harbor, with Ethan Stillwachs winning the youth category. From Accabonac Harbor, Dennis Curles’s 1.85-pound clam was the winner, while Elizabeth Branche took the youth award.
Ryan and Laila Persan, a father-daughter team, swept the Lake Montauk competition, while Ed Hoff Jr. took the honors for both Napeague Harbor and overall largest clam. His son, Edward Hoff III, won the youth divisions over all with a bivalve discovered just a day before the competition.