Yarmouth Clam Festival

July 20-22, 2012

Well, as the name implies, we just had to have seafood one evening after manning the booth in the heat of summer. Carl had a good sized bag of steamers and a soft shelled lobster while I had grilled scallops served in a hot dog roll. Yarmouth is a great place and they really know how to throw a party. The event is in it’s 47th year so they’ve had plenty of time to work on the small details. Things like music in three places, road and bicycle races through the Main Streets, a fireman’s muster under the Route 1 overpass, a huge “food court” where all types of social organizations are responsible for an incredible array of foods ( more on this later ), a craft fair with over 100 artisans and an art show with more than 40 artists, games for the kids and even karaoke on the big stage during the day, no liquor required. They also had Smokey’s Midway and Carnival rides for those who have to do that sort of thing.

We talked with a lady who worked the Lime Rickey booth. She said everyone from the boy scouts to soccer  parents get together, decide who will sell what and what the prices will be and then Sysco sets up two tractor trailers, one refrigerated and the other frozen for them to buy their food as they need it. Only one booth can sell pizza, one for fried clams, one for lobsters and so on. The only duplicate was bottled water and that price was preset. We never had a Lime Rickey but they were served in lime colored plastic cups and we saw a bunch of them. Everywhere you looked people were strolling by holding lime colored plastic cups or sucking on lime colored straws.

Our participation in the Art show was a successful venture. Sales were okay, business cards disappeared and we networked with several local artists and picked up helpful tips and chatted about other events in the area. We even lucked out with our overnight accommodations. The event staff created a mini campground at the Travis Roy Ice Arena which is part of North Yarmouth Academy. It was so close,  we had only to cross route 1 at the traffic light, 5 minutes down a lovely walking path, cross Main Street and onto the Merrill Library lawn where our booth was located.

Our days were long, dusty and uncomfortably warm but the nights were perfect for sleeping, no air conditioner needed. We decided to spend one more night in Yarmouth before heading off to Acadia National Park for a few days. We hit the food court just at the end of the Festival and in time for a couple of bargains, a lobster roll for Carl and a kielbasa on a stick for me.