LIYC’s Traditional Clam Bake 2026 was an adventure at least. A huge thanks to those who helped make it happen.
On:
–Suzi & Scott Jenning, for the 5-minute pivot decision to move the party to your house! You saved the event, and it was a great move. What an amazing spot and gorgeous day it was!
–John Zaborski & Steve Fessler, for going to sea and collecting the massive amounts of seaweed needed to steam the food. John also provided about 100 prawns from his private stash.
–Barry Crist & Bill Trimm, for helping to move Rocks & firewood, and dig the massive sand hole… TWICE
–Judy Welker, for picking up the sausages and the creative beer posters.
-Janet Gershfield, for picking up the clams and mussels, and shoveling sand.
–Mo Crist, picking up enough potatoes to survive a famine, and helping to man the grill for the undercooked.
–Michal London, for getting ice to keep our wine bar cold
–Mike and Julie North, for collecting some extra rocks by headlamp.
–Brian Duncan, for brewing some tasty beers
–Arlene Sund, for making the Red Chowder
–Michelle Forster, for making the White Chowder
–Dusty Forster, for providing secret stash prawns, helping Scott man the grill, and being a great wingman all around
-Chuck Hossmer & Mats Elf, for helping with the parking
Thank you to all who brought delicious food and drinks to share, Arlene Sund and Dusty & Michele Forster for the clam chowders. I hope everyone went home well-fed and happy!
It took a Yacht club to raise a Clam Bake!! We worked hard on Friday to dig the pit, fill it with rocks, and set the firewood alongside the hole. It was a lot of work. The FIRST hole was 4 x 5 x 3 deep! We were met with some not-so-pleased residents of Flat Point, who didn’t like the way our seaweed smelled ;), and decided they didn’t want a traditional Clam Bake taking place on “their beach.” So… we removed the bowling ball-sized rocks, packed up the firewood, filled in the giant hole, and called Suzi. Within 5 minutes, she called back and said, “Come on over”! Suddenly deciding to host an event at your place requires a ton of work, last-minute quietly scrambling to touch up the yard, clean the bathrooms, set out tables and chairs, and weed-whack the path to the beach. Suzi & Scott, WE SEE YOU, and you are FANTASTIC hosts!We got busy digging the SECOND hole on the Jennings beach, filled it with our reclaimed rocks, wheeled all the firewood down, and boatloads of seaweed, and went home feeling relieved there wouldn’t be a THIRD hole to dig 🙂
Saturday morning started with some drizzle, but by the time I arrived at 8 am to start the fire on the rocks, the sun was working its way out. It ended up being a fabulous sunny day with very light wind.
The fire burned in the pit for a little over 4 hours to heat the rocks. With many helping hands, we raked coals, dropped in the seaweed, covered it with burlap sacks, laid down the potatoes, corn, clams, mussels, and prawns, covered it all with more burlap and seaweed, 2 big tarps, and shoveled sand on top. The food was cooked below ground for 1.5 hours.
We had some mid-day entertainment as Rich and Ziggy rowed up from Fisherman Bay and stopped in for a short visit and a drink of water. Joe Golberg arrived via sailboat. He anchored off the beach and dinghyed ashore to party.
At 1:45, many hands helped reverse the process to reveal the food. Some things didn’t quite cook long enough, as we had some cold spots underground, but with helpful pivoting once again by our group, we managed to finish things off on the grill and get all the food laid out on the table to enjoy!
Lopez Island Yacht Club ● P O Box 22 ● Lopez Island, WA 98261.
Fantastic!!
Wonderful!!