Clambake carries on between storms in Salisbury

SALISBURY — Preparations for the Jane Lloyd Fund clambake and fundraiser Saturday, July 29 began in the rain.

Everything was more or less ready to go around 10:30 a.m., except for the food and the fire.

This is when it started to rain hard.

The rain lasted about 15 minutes. As it tapered off, Ray Zukowski, the leader of the clambake professionals from Turners Falls Schuetzen Verein in Gill, Massachusetts, said “I hate to say it guys, but let’s get started.”

He shrugged on his rain parka. “I did one of these in 11 inches of rain.”

The fire is a carefully constructed structure of  4 x 6 inch lengths of wood with flat boards inside to hold rocks. Ripped-up cardboard boxes serve as kindling. The kindling and boards burn, leaving a pile of hot rocks inside the charred remains of the structure.

The rocks are granite. The harder the rock, the better it holds heat, according to the clambake pros.

As the team worked, the sun came out. Instantly, Sartre Hill became a sauna.

“Good thing it’s not humid,” said Ken Barker of Salisbury.

Once the fire was constructed, the clambake pros took off for the firehouse, to wash clams.

They returned about 1 p.m.

In the interim, the ticket takers had been briefed on the latest payment technology, which involved questions such as “What do we do with the QR thingy?”

Eliot Osborn and his fellow musicians got started with a version of Lowell George’s “Willin’.”

And the first patrons were starting to straggle in.

There was a brief moment of comedy at 1:15 p.m., when it was time to light the fire.

The call went up. “Anybody got a lighter?”

Silence.

“Nobody smokes anymore,” said Zukowski.

Somebody finally produced one, and the fire was set.

Once it burns down, the smoking hunks of 4 x 6 are dragged away, and the second phase begins.

The first layer over the hot rocks is wet corn husks, followed by big clumps of seaweed.

Wood crates containing lobsters are  added, along with bags of clams and corn.

Finally, wet, heavy tarps are pulled across the whole steaming shebang.

Then everybody sits down with a cool beverage and waits.

There was a second wave of storms, but it held off until around 5 p.m.

The clambake is an annual tradition, now in its 16th year. It would have been the 18th year, but the COVID-19 pandemic intervened.

Jane Lloyd of Salisbury died of cancer in 2005. The Jane Lloyd Fund was established by her family to help families in the Region One area who are struggling financially with the costs of cancer treatment. It is an endowed fund within the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.

The corn shucking technique leaves one layer of husk. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan

Sara Jack kept an eye on the clam chowder simmering in a double-boiler at the Jane Lloyd Fund clambake. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan

The corn shucking technique leaves one layer of husk. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan