On Tuesday, it was decided to postpone the East Hampton Town Trustees’ 33rd annual Largest Clam Contest until Oct. 8 because of a forecast of inclement weather on Sunday.
Until then, clams beware! And this year it will be at a new venue: the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station, near the southern terminus of Atlantic Avenue.
The contest, from noon to 3 p.m., is both a celebration of the town’s maritime heritage and a means for the trustees, who have jurisdiction over many of the town’s beaches, waterways, and bottomlands, to inform the public as to their role in the town’s governing. This year’s contest, the trustees assert, will be the biggest and best to date.
From Sept. 30 through Oct. 7, those with a valid town shellfish license can harvest hard clams from certified waters in Lake Montauk, Napeague Harbor, Accabonac Harbor, Hog Creek, and Three Mile Harbor and take their clam contestant to the Amagansett Seafood Store, the Seafood Shop in Wainscott, Stuart’s Seafood Market in Amagansett, or the Montauk Seafood Company. At any of those locations, contestants are to place their clam in a mesh bag and attach a shellfish tag with their name, telephone number, the date the clam was harvested, and the waterway from which it was taken. Parents entering for children ages 4 to 14 must include that information as well as their name and their child’s name and age.
Contestants are permitted to enter one clam only. Judges will weigh the entries and award prizes, in both children and adult divisions, for each waterway.
The ever-popular clam chowder contest comes with a $1 entry fee. Contestants have been asked to visit the trustees’ office, at the Lamb Building on Bluff Road in Amagansett — the site of past clam contests — to collect an entry container and contest rules. Clam chowder entries are to be taken to the contest site on Oct. 8 between 11:30 a.m. and noon. The office can be called at 631-267-8688 for more information.
The contest will also have free clam chowder, a raw bar, and clam pies. In a new feature, the trustees will offer a mug that can be bought for $12. It will come filled with steaming clam chowder, with proceeds to benefit the trustees’ scholarship fund.
There will be live music, face painting, and a Mr. Softee ice cream truck. John (Barley) Dunne, director of the town’s shellfish hatchery, will offer a live marine species exhibition.
Those planning to attend the contest have been asked to wait until noon to arrive.
