OCEAN SHORES, Wash. — In Ocean Shores this little clam is such a big deal they throw a party for it every March. Thousands come to the Ocean Shores Razor Clam and Seafood Festival to dig for razor clams on the beach - and eat seafood in town.
"Our big focus is the bounty of the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Northwest,” said Quinton Chastain, the chef at the crab tent in charge of cooking Dungeness crab for a crowd all during all three days of the festival.
“We are expected to sell probably between 1,200 and 1,500 crabs,” Chastain said.
And people don’t just come to eat the crab – they come to watch the crab preparation show.
"It's a bit of a spectacle. Seeing the folks cleaning it we get student volunteers that help with us. And so actually seeing the live crabs come out of the tank, seeing them go into the pot, the billowing steam, the smells, the atmosphere,” Chastain said.
The final product of all that work is delicious, and people from all over sit at large tables in a tent to consume it.
“We've got a whole Dungeness crab dinner, it's coming with herbed butter potatoes, with coleslaw, drawn butter, and yeah, it's about bringing people together and celebrating what we have here," Chastain said.
There's plenty of other seafood as well, from fish and chips to seared scallops, there’s even a clam chowder tasting contest. There are also vendors selling ocean-inspired creations from driftwood mobiles to door mats made from upcycled crab pot ropes.
But the star of the show is the razor clam.
There's a clam gun and shovel decorating contest -- the artists dug deep for their inspiration, one clam gun had a shiny lacquered razor clam inside, and rotated on a platform.
There are even clam cooking demos -- Suzy Sakamoto owns The Perfect Tide, a recipe website for everything you can catch on the coast. Today she's demonstrating how to make "clams casino" with clams she dug herself.
“Oh gosh, we love them, we've been razor clamming for a decade, and love cooking with them in different ways," Sakamoto said. "And what better to do than razor clams at a razor clam festival?"
The town’s hotels and campgrounds are usually fully booked for this festival that happens the third weekend in March, so make plans early. Also, the feast’s not over when the festival ends. You can still find seafood at local restaurants or harvest your own on a nearby beach. Ocean Shores is a town that keeps their seafood party going year-round.
Accommodations for Evening’s crew provided by The Canterbury Inn in Ocean Shores – check out their Retro Room, opening in April of 2024.
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