The East Hampton Town Trustees' 32nd annual Largest Clam Contest officially ended on Friday, almost two weeks after the event that drew hundreds to the Lamb Building in Amagansett. At their meeting on Monday, the trustees announced both a new venue and a date for next year's contest.
Prior to the contest, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had closed Three Mile Harbor, Hog Creek, and Accabonac Harbor to shellfishing after heavy rainfall and stormwater runoff between Oct. 2 and 5. The water bodies were reopened on Oct. 13, and the trustees accepted clam contestants harvested from them until 4 p.m. on Friday.
By Friday afternoon, only two new clams had been entered, one each from Accabonac Harbor and Three Mile Harbor. In the former water body, Jill Donenfeld's 1.4-pound contestant took the prize. In the latter, it was James Sullivan's 1.02-pound clam. Mr. Sullivan also won the clam chowder competition. There was no entry from Hog Creek.
That left Susan Ceslow's 2.71-pound heavyweight from Napeague Harbor, weighed at the contest on Oct. 9, as the overall winner.
Trustee David Cataletto proposed that next year's contest be held on the grounds of the Amagansett U.S. Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station, near the southern end of Atlantic Avenue. The grounds are twice as large as those of the Lamb Building, he said, and the Atlantic Avenue Beach parking lot offers ample parking. The restored 1902 structure would be open, with docent-led tours, he said.
His colleagues agreed. The contest, said John Aldred, has been held at various locations over the years, including at the town's shellfish hatchery in Montauk and at the Springs Fisherman's Fair. It was held at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett in 2015.
The trustees also agreed on Sept. 24, 2023, as the date of the next contest.
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Note: This article has been updated since it originally appeared.