Skip to main content

Let the Clamming Begin! Trustees' Tradition Returns

Thu, 08/26/2021 - 08:41
Recreational shellfish harvesters with a valid shellfish license from the town can enter hard-clam contestants harvested from Napeague, Accabonac, and Three Mile Harbors as well as Lake Montauk and Hog Creek.
Durell Godfrey

The East Hampton Town Trustees' Largest Clam Contest, a popular annual event that showcases the trustees' role in town government and the bounty of the town's waterways, will be held once again this year, starting at noon on Oct. 3. 

The event takes place on the grounds of the Lamb Building, at the corner of Bluff Road and Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett, which houses the trustees' office. 

Recreational shellfish harvesters with a valid shellfish license from the town can enter hard-clam contestants harvested from Napeague, Accabonac, and Three Mile Harbors as well as Lake Montauk. This year a fifth water body, Hog Creek, has been added. As always, prizes will be awarded in adult and junior categories for each of those water bodies and in each division. One clam per contestant per day can be entered. 

New to the contest this year, said Ben Dollinger of the trustees, is a separate contest for commercial fishermen. In this category, one prize will be awarded for the largest clam over all. 

The time frame in which to harvest clams is Sept. 25 to Oct. 2. Competing claims are to be taken to the Amagansett Seafood Store or Stuart's Seafood Market in Amagansett, or Gosman's Fish Market or Peterson's Seafood Market in Montauk. There will be a $1 entry fee per clam. 

Also new this year is a clam pie showcase, Mr. Dollinger said. Members of the public can enter their own, with a note about its history — a favorite family recipe, for example. 

The day also features face painting for children and live music, as well as a clam chowder contest. Those wishing to enter have been asked to collect an entry container and rules at the trustees' office. The entry fee is $1. 

The Covid-19 pandemic forced a scaled-down contest last year, with contestants submitting videos of themselves at the waterway where their entries were harvested. 

Villages

Springs Food Pantry Sees the Need, Addresses It

The last few years have presented challenges the Springs Food Pantry’s founders could not have anticipated when it was first established. More than 600 families are now registered to receive the assistance it provides, and an average of 355 families are served each week.

Jun 26, 2025

A Newsletter on Being a Jew in Today’s America

One of the essential roles of religion, Rabbi Jan Uhrbach of the Bridge Shul in Bridgehampton said this week, is to “help us hold onto our humanity, and remind us of the higher values that go beyond money and power and position and all of those things, in a time when the values that I hold dear are not only being violated, they’re being rejected as values.”

Jun 26, 2025

Item of the Week: The Hemerocallis Garden, 1962

Hemerocallis may be an unfamiliar term, but the garden adjacent to Clinton Academy once bore the name. This photo shows the gate to the garden some two decades after its establishment in 1941.

Jun 26, 2025

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.