It’s an awful lot of work, but certainly worth it, especially when you are cooking with friends. The 46th Annual Clambake, hosted by the Benjamin D. Cushing Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2425, was held on Sunday and fed hundreds of people who sat at picnic tables in the sunshine on a perfect summer day. The menu included clams, sausage, fish, brown bread, regular potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, corn on the cob and watermelon. Turkey was available for those who couldn’t eat shellfish.

The VFW team has perfected the details of the clambake over the years, and everything went smoothly and efficiently. The VFW team built the steaming structure in the days prior to the picnic. At the bottom of the pit were rocks. On top was layered wood and more rocks. Seaweed from Sippican Harbor was placed on top, and wet, white canvas sheets were placed on top. The fire was lit and the steam got started. The sheets of fabric were removed once everything got going.

Once the steam really got going, clams and other items were placed on top in wooden boxes and steamed. The entire setup was impressively large, about the size of four picnic tables back-to-back. A pitchfork lay in a giant pile of seaweed which would occasionally be used to feed the steaming piles of rocks and wood. The seaweed gives the food a salty flavor, which is the goal of a true New England clambake.

“It’s quite a procedure, which has been perfected over the years,” said Michael Lopes, a retired Department of Public Works employee for the town. While guests ate and enjoyed each other’s company, music played from a sound system with oldies and classics like “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pips.

All funds raised through the event support the programs run by the VFW and fund the ongoing maintenance of their facility.

“Our project this year is to repave our driveway,” said Rodney Hunt, Co-Chairman of the clambake. K.C. Barrows and Hunt organized the event with the help of many volunteers who boiled water for the corn and handled the clam steaming station. It was clear that the VFW excelled at organization and timing for all of the food to be ready at the same time.

The Ladies Auxiliary booth, controlled by Joyce McWilliams, a past state president, offered a 50/50 raffle and 10 gift baskets that were raffled off. McWilliams noted that she cut out and framed the recent Wanderer article naming Rodney Hunt as the winner of the Keel Award for Marion.

“It’s inside the VFW on the bulletin board so everyone can see it,” McWilliams said. “Rodney is our mainstay.”

In talking about the VFW Ladies Auxiliary, McWilliams said, “We help them, and they help us.” Last year, the Ladies Auxiliary donated 266 small American flags to schoolchildren in the community, donated to local hospitals and offered a Voice of Democracy scholarship to local students.

Bob Demeo, a three-time past Commander of the VFW Post, worked the bar. When asked who he was by this reporter, Demeo quickly replied, “Navy Veteran, Korean War, three years.” Demeo enjoyed his duty serving up beverages for the crowd.

With plenty of help, the event was a huge success.

By Joan Hartnett-Barry

On Sunday morning with ideal conditions, nearly 60 people participated in the 2013 Bird Island Challenge, a multi-course, multi-boat race and tour celebrating more than a decade of competition for a good cause: the Gleason Family YMCA Scholarship Program.

The Challenge began and ended at Zecco Marina in Wareham, with breakfast and lunch provided to the registrants and volunteers. Competitors chose from among three courses: the 3-mile Long Beach, 6-mile Great Hill and 12-mile Bird Island. The top racing time on the Bird Island course was Alan Aikens’ 1:54:40 on a slide-seat row, and on the Great Hill, Craig Wolfe’s 0:41:58 on a slide-seat row. Other participants took to the sea in canoes, kayaks and whaleboats.

But the boaters had a lot of help in making the Bird Island Challenge a successful event, including from YMCA Senior Program Director Lu Brito.

“It’s a great opportunity to bring the community together, to offer something to the community,” Brito said. “A kayak race is not something that people do all of the time, so it’s a chance for something different.”

While volunteer organizers Eleanor Mower, Bob Trahan and Betsy Dunn prepared lunch and refreshments, Dunn’s 11-year-old grandson, Sam, helped boaters bring their vessels to shore. He has been volunteering for five years.

“I usually go with my grandmother,” Sam said. “I like to help out, and the food’s pretty good.”

Meanwhile, Pat Lester tabulated results as the competitors came in.

“I came in last,” Pam Silver said, “and I still had a blast.”

Greg Johnson and his first mate/dog Mackie, sporting goggles, finished a respectable 1:13:05 on the Great Hill course in their slide-seat row, the Labradory.

Paul Donatio saw the festivities going on and “thought it was a party,” so he rowed from his home on Pinehurst Beach.

By Shawn Badgley

It takes a lot of work from a lot of volunteers to get the Rochester Country Fairgrounds ready, and students at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School are learning the importance of that work within their community.

Before school commenced in late June, students from the Metal Fabrication, Carpentry, Electrical and Graphic Design shops at Old Colony all had a hand in preparing the Fairgrounds for next week’s events.

Those arriving at the Fairgrounds this weekend will notice a change in the main gate’s appearance: Earlier this summer, students and teachers designed and erected a new 18-foot-long archway that is sure to be a welcoming sight for many of the Fair’s patrons.

Dave Souza and Julie Koczera, the Fair’s Co-Chairmen, recruited instructors Mike Richard and Doug Desrochers of the Metal Fabrication shop at Old Colony to oversee a team of students to design and fabricate the huge steel sign for the Fairgrounds, which will celebrate its second year there after a move from Plumb Corner.

“I gave it to my seniors to come up with a design,” said Richard, who noted that they started the project last November. “After we came up with the final draft, we found a font we liked and gave it to Graphic Design, and they printed out full-size stencils.”

From there, Richard said the students hand-cut the steel letters, which were then welded to the cross beams that they had measured to the two wooden poles already in existence at Gate A of the Fairgrounds. Fortunately for the crew of volunteers, the final product fit well to the poles, and shortly after finishing the archway in early June, it was hung using a bucket truck and a logging truck owned by volunteer Dave Grime. Richard said that students from every grade worked on the project, and that surprisingly, his freshman students did about 50 percent of the welding on it.

“All of the classes had a little piece of it,” Richard said, “and if it wasn’t for the freshmen, I don’t think we would have gotten it done.”

So far, the sign has gotten a great response from those who have seen it, including some people from the Westport Country Fair who recently visited the site.

“The comments [on the sign] have been unbelievable,” said Mike Forand, who volunteers there regularly and who also teaches the Electrical shop at Old Colony. “Everything worked out well.”

Forand’s Electrical students have also spent countless hours working at the Fairgrounds over the last two years, laying thousands of feet of wiring among all the other electrical work that’s been done there. Students in the Carpentry shop at Old Colony have also constructed two new ticket booths that were just recently dropped off at the Fairgrounds for next week’s events.

“They’ve learned about the business end of a shovel,” said Forand, who added that projects like this are a very valuable resource for teachers trying to prepare students for their futures in an entrepreneur’s world. “It’s a huge part of the teaching process.”

By Nicholas Walecka

Dozens of volunteers gathered at Rochester Memorial School on Saturday to construct a new playground for the students there. “We started in February,” said Playground Project Chair Donna Forcier, “and here we are – finally.” New RMS principal Derek Medeiros was also on hand to help with the build. Photos by Nick Walecka.