18th Annual Razor Clam and Seafood Festival draws crowds
Published 1:30 am Monday, March 23, 2026
You never know what Mother Nature is going to throw at Western Washington this time of year. After several days of soaking rain that caused flooding, landslides and road closures, the skies parted and the sun smiled on the 18th Annual Razor Clam and Seafood Festival at the Ocean Shores Convention Center.
The event, which coincides with the first day of spring each year, featured dozens of vendors inside and out, live music, a giant slide, a clam gun decorating contest, and, of course, food. It also signals the official kick-off of the all-important festival season in Ocean Shores.
Ocean Shores Convention Center General Manager George Lee said he was impressed with the attendance and that the crowds bode well for the upcoming festival season.
“We’ve had quite a great turnout. We weren’t even able to slide a piece of notebook paper between people [in line]. They were lined up all the way out the door for the chowder tasting contest. The vendors are all talking about how much business they’ve had, so I think we’ve had a great year,” Lee said. “After what I’ve seen this year with the Razor Clam Festival, I’m looking forward to the festival season. I think it’s gonna be a great year. The attendance is great this year for the first one, so I can assume it’s only going to get better as we move into better weather.”
Lee said the recent 40th Beachcombers and Glass Float Expo served as a successful lead-up to the Razor Clam fest.
“That was Alan Rammer’s last year. The festival was very successful. They had a great turnout,” Lee said. “The participation from the beach art and all the stuff they had was a great turnout; the float and the release of the floats were wonderful. People had a great time finding them on the beach.”
One of the highlights of the festival was the clam chowder tasting contest, of which the Porthole Pub Bar & Grill, located on Point Brown Avenue NW, took the top two prizes — 1st Place and the coveted People’s Choice award. Representatives of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Ocean Shores police and fire departments served as judges.
New Ocean Shores Deputy Police Chief Cari Vesco attended her first Razor Clam Festival and enjoyed the experience.
“It actually solidifies my decision to come here. This is exactly the type of community that I was looking for. It’s just great to see this turnout and see so many people out here just enjoying themselves, and, my goodness, the weather did us a huge favor today,” Vesco said. “Where we lived [in Florida] was really more of a residential area, so we would have a food truck festival on Thursday nights, and our local mall would donate the space, and you’d get all kinds of food trucks, but nothing to this scale, nothing like this. This is actually pretty impressive.”
