A taste of Long Beach at the clam fest
Published 12:07 pm Wednesday, April 15, 2026
The 2026 tourist season on the Long Beach Peninsula kicks off the weekend with the Razor Clam and Shellfish Festival, a longtime tradition celebrating the area’s seafood and culture. The long running festival will be held April 17 and 18 at the Veteran’s Field, 111 3rd St. SE. F
As every year, the festival’s headline event is the fritter cook-off. The clam chowder taste-off will pit local restaurants against each other in a creamy showdown for the prestigious Best Chowder Trophy. Amateur chefs will compete for cash prizes in a parallel chowder cook-off, building on last year’s contest, which, said event organizer Brittany Black, “was one of the best that we’ve had.”
Experienced clammers will teach razor clam digging lessons on the beach. Participants of all ages can win cash prizes for the biggest or smallest clam harvested. Visitors can also look forward to an oyster shucking contest, a fresh Dungeness crab boil as well as a slew of activities for children. And, event organizers also remind visitors to complete their experience with a selfie next to the Giant Squirting Clam in downtown Long Beach.
The festival has grown over the years, to include “more options for people to be able to taste all that the peninsula has to offer,” said Black, who is also the director of the event’s main sponsor, the Long Beach Merchants Association, which “exists to promote tourism, improve the economic climate, and promote local activities that will stimulate business,” according to its website. “It started out as more of a razor clam festival, and now it’s turned into quite the shellfish festival.”
This year’s event will also see expanded lineups of artisans and food vendors as well as live music performances.
Another addition is made possible by nature’s favor: with a forecast of exceptional negative tides, which are especially conducive for clamming, organizers are adding Sunday to this year’s event calendar.
“This is really a fortunate opportunity,” said Black. “With it being the best tide of the season we want to make sure people can get out there and learn.”
The event is expected to draw in excess of 1,400 visitors, with some fifty volunteers assisting in the production, from taking tickets to cooking crab. According to first-time volunteer coordinator, Marti Lindhorst, “mostly they’re locals who live and love being here and who are interested in assisting to make this event another success.”
The festival’s history dates back to 1940, when the people of Long Beach claimed to have made the world’s largest clam fritter, containing 200 pounds of razor clams, in the world’s then-largest frying pan. In its current iteration, running since 2014, the fritter is made in a refurbished replica pan.
“We’re really looking to embrace the history of clam digging and the festival,” said Black. The festival “is pretty great for just showing and embracing everything that we have to offer here. It’s just a great atmosphere to have down there.”
The festival ticket, available online, includes clam chowder samples of each restaurant, a beverage, vintage postcard, custom magnet, voting ballot, and a 2026 tide book.
For details, visit: longbeachmerchants.com