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Yarmouth enjoys incident-free, sun-kissed Clam Festival
YARMOUTH — Glorious summer weather brought swarms of people to town last weekend to celebrate the 47th annual Clam Festival.
The crowds, estimated at more than 100,000 people for the weekend, filled the streets and mingled with food vendors and the more than 165 crafters. Organizers said turnout for the festival was likely greater than previous years.
"I think this year's attendance topped last year's," Clam Festival Director Mark Primeau said, although there was no official count. "I think that whenever you have five days of nice weather, you're going to do well. By all accounts, it was a full festival."
Although it's too early to tell how the town nonprofits fared at the festival, Town Manager Nat Tupper said he was optimistic.
"I don't know if it was gangbusters for the financial return to the community, but it seemed to be a very successful year," Tupper said.
The weather cooperated with festival-goers, with clear skies and temperatures hanging around the mid 70s to low 80s.
Police Chief Michael Morrill said although the warm weather is good for the festival, it can sometimes mean people staying out late after the carnival closes and causing problems. But, he said, this year was largely free of incidents.
"It was a good weekend," Morrill said. "It was a pretty uneventful Clam Festival for us, and that's good."
Despite the masses of people who descend on Yarmouth every year for the festival, Tupper said he's always impressed by how quickly everything returns to normal.
"As always, I'm amazed at the cleanup," he said. "I'm just so grateful to everyone that donates their time to come for the festival and comes to clean up."
Will Graff can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 123 or wgraff@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @W_C_Graff.
