Dig Or No Dig, Long Beach Razor Clam Festival Slated for April

It’s fun to dig for razor clams but if that isn’t possible, you can still celebrate them! The Razor Clam Festival returns to Long Beach for a lively weekend of food, foraging, fun competitions and entertainment. Activities will take place in downtown Long Beach, Washington, Saturday, April 29 and Sunday, April 30, with digging along the entire 28-mile span of wide, sandy beach pending state approval.

Keep your fingers crossed that there will be digging
for Razor Clams this season.

Festival highlights include the ever-popular Clam Chowder Taste-Off (Saturday, 1-3PM, Long Beach Elks Club) with samples cooked up and served by local restaurant chefs to ticket holders, who vote for the prized “Best Chowder” award, and the Clam Fritter Cook-Off (Saturday, 3-5PM, Veterans Memorial Park), where Ilwaco High School Culinary Arts Program students vie for top recognition awarded by a panel of Tom Douglas restaurant chefs.

The Amateur Chowder Competition offers twelve home chefs the chance to compete for cash prizes and the highly sought out title “Best Homemade Clam Chowder” as judged by chefs from Tom Douglas restaurants. The competition takes place at the Long Beach Elks, on April 29, from 11AM to noon.

Other festival events include the following:

•       Clam Digging and Clam Cleaning Lessons both days. Registration is at www.longbeachrazorclamfestival.com/free-razor-clam-digging-lessons/;

•       Clam Contests, April 29, 8AM-noon, Dennis Company, Long Beach, including free samples and prize drawings by manufacturers of clam-digging tools;

•       Oregon Mermaids storytelling, face painting, photo ops and more, April 29, 11AM-2PM, Long Beach Train Depot;

•       Street entertainment including Dennis Duck, the Beard’s Hollow Pirates and Clam Bathing Beauties;

•       North Jetty Brewing Beer Garden & Un-Clammy Foods, April 29, 3-8PM, Veterans Memorial Park.

“The Clam Guy,” David Berger, author of the soon to be released Razor Clams: Buried Treasure of the Pacific Northwest (due out in July, University of Washington Press) will attend as an honorary guest.

Expanding options for things to see and do, the Saturday Market at the Port of Ilwaco will open for a season preview, April 29 from 10AM to 4PM. In Long Beach, the Giant Squirting Clam and World’s Largest Clam Pan provide the perfect souvenir-photo backdrop.

Headquarters for the event is the Long Beach Elks Lodge where free coffee, updates, festival keepsakes including sweatshirts, t-shirts, mugs, hats and more will be available both days.

Long Beach ranks among the best places to dig for razor clams with a vast digging area, easy beach access, the gentle slope of the shoreline and other favorable conditions.

For additional clamming information and regulations, please contact the Dennis Company at 360.642.3166 or visit WDFW at www.wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/razorclams/.

For lodging (early reservations suggested) and destination information, visit www.funbeach.com or call the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau at 360.642.2400

Information courtesy: Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau 

This Year's Top Events on the Long Beach Peninsula of Washington

I just returned from a writing trip to Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula. I checked out the newly renovated Shelburne Hotel. There’s always something going on and many reasons to pack your getaway bag for the beach.

Community organized events on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula, a 28-mile-long beach destination bordered by the Pacific Ocean, the Columbia River and Willapa Bay, offer the opportunity to experience an array of local pastimes and passions. Among them are razor clam digging, coastal gardening, beach running and cultural events.

Top events include the following:

·      Long Beach Razor ClamFestival (April 20-21) resurrects a popular community event of the 1940s as well as a subsistence tradition. Participants can learn from longtime residents how to find, dig and clean razor clams, taste and vote for the best clam chowder, visit with mermaids, enjoy musical entertainment, relax at a beer garden, enter contests, and more.

·      Beach to Chowder (June 16) run/walk, with a start and finish at the “World’s Long Beach Arch” on Bolstad Avenue, Long Beach, is an ideal way to engage the entire family (dogs permitted on leash) in a fun event over Father’s Day weekend. Local and visiting competitors in 5K and 10K distances run or walk for fun and prizes along a flat stretch of hard-pack sand. Steaming bowls of chowder are enjoyed afterwards during the awards ceremony.

·      Music in the Gardens (July 21) showcases a variety of lovingly tended, magnificent, coastal gardens up and down the peninsula. Hosts welcome ticketed tour goers with garden insights, plant identification and light refreshments, while regional musicians entertain. 

·      Water Music Festival (Oct. 12-14) brings classical musicians to perform at intimate and interesting venues on the Long Beach Peninsula. Many of the attendees are local residents who appreciate world-class chamber music performances brought by the Water Music Society to their remote locale.

·      6x6 Art Show and Auction (Nov. 3) offers a glimpse into the thriving local art scene. Fantastic art objects produced by the region’s most talented artists are auctioned off as a benefit for the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum’s exhibition programs. 

The Long Beach Peninsula is host to more than 50 annual events. For event details, destination information and trip planning, please call the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau at 360.642.2400 or access www.visitlongbeachpeninsula.com to download the 2018 event calendar directly.

Information Courtesy: Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau

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Long Beach Peninsula of Washington: Kites and Cranberries

The hand-painted kites at the Kite Museum
are works of art

There's always something going on at the beach. Washington's Long Beach Peninsula, in the southwest portion of the state, was named one of ‘America’s Favorite Beach Towns’ by ForbesTraveler.com and voted ‘Best Beach’ by the viewers of Seattle’s KING-5 TV. The Long Beach Peninsula offers visitors colorful shops, great locally sourced seafood, unusual museums, horseback riding, and miles of oceanfront dunes and beaches.

Long Beach is known for kites and the sea breezes that hold them aloft. Each August kites from all over the world are found at the annual Washington State International Kite Festival. You'll see colorful mass ascensions, sport kite events and trick flying. For one glorious week, kites are king in this beach town. 

Year round you can enjoy the beauty and sport of kites by visiting The World Kite Museum in Long Beach. This two story building displays different shapes and uses of kites ranging from the Kites of WWII to the beautiful display of Asian kites. These hand painted and beautifully constructed works of art caught my eye on a recent visit. 

Pirate ship kite.

Throughout the museum you'll constantly be looking up to see what's flying. A tall-masted pirate ship kite fascinated us. Videos display the kites in action. You can even make your own kite to take with you. The beach is close-by. (museum has admission charge)

Vintage photo of the cranberry harvest.

In fall, thoughts turn to the bright red cranberry. Early August is harvest time. You can see the bogs being flooded and the cranberries, that will float to the top of the water, being scooped up. The annual Cranberrian Fair, held in October is a good time to sample cranberry cuisine, tour bogs and travel by Cranberry Trolley. 

Ripening cranberries.

The Cranberry Museum is worth a visit. You can learn about the history of cranberry production in Washington, see cranberry-related machinery, take a self guided bog tour and buy a locally produced cranberry product in their gift shop.

Although these are great times to visit the Long Beach Peninsula, I enjoy the beach year round. Storms can batter the coast and make cozying up to a fire place a real treat. 

The beach is always great for walking. Long Beach has the Discovery Trail and Boardwalk to enjoy. And the local chefs do wonders with the locally sourced cuisine. 

More Information
Long Beach Visitors Bureau
Long Beach: A Foodie Find

Long Beach, Washington: Enjoy the Beach Year 'Round

There's always something going on at the beach. Washington's Long Beach Peninsula, in the southwest portion of the state, was named one of ‘America’s Favorite Beach Towns’ by ForbesTraveler.com and voted ‘Best Beach’ by the viewers of Seattle’s KING-5 TV. The Long Beach Peninsula offers visitors colorful shops, great locally sourced seafood, unusual museums, horseback riding, and miles of oceanfront dunes and beaches.

Long Beach is known for kites and the sea breezes that hold them aloft. Each August kites from all over the world are found at the annual Washington State International Kite Festival. You'll see colorful mass ascensions, sport kite events and trick flying. For one glorious week, kites are king in this beach town.

Year ‘round you can enjoy the beauty and sport of kites by visiting The World Kite Museum in Long Beach. This two-story building displays different shapes and uses of kites ranging from the Kites of WWII to the beautiful display of Asian kites. These hand-painted and beautifully constructed works of art caught my eye on a recent visit.

Throughout the museum you'll constantly be looking up to see what's flying. A tall-masted pirate ship kite fascinated us. Videos display the kites in action. You can even make your own kite to take with you. The beach is close-by. (Admission charge)

In fall, thoughts turn to the bright red cranberry. Early October is harvest time. You can see the bogs being flooded and the cranberries floating to the top of the water, being scooped up. 

The annual Cranberrian Fair, held in October is a good time to sample cranberry cuisine, tour bogs and travel by Cranberry Trolley. The Cranberry Museum is worth a visit. You can learn about the history of cranberry production in Washington, see cranberry-related machinery, take a self-guided bog tour and buy a locally produced cranberry product in their gift shop.

Although these are great times to visit the Long Beach Peninsula, I enjoy the beach year round. Storms can batter the coast and make cozying up to a fireplace a real treat.

This month, I'll be taking a little fishing trip out of Ilwaco. I'm sure to have some fish tales to tell!

The beach is always great for walking. Long Beach has the Discovery Trail and Boardwalk to enjoy. And the local chefs do wonders with the locally sourced cuisine.

More Information
Long Beach Visitors Bureau
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Spring Hiking in the Long Beach Peninsula of Washington

Sloshing through ankle deep mud on a rare sunny or more predictably rainy day is a quintessential Northwest experience. When spring’s urge to get outdoors calls, find perfectly wet trails plus 28 miles of sandy, public beach on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula.

Spring Hiking on the Long Beach Peninsula
Well known for the oyster beds of Willapa Bay, great food, bird watching, and charter fishing, the Long Beach Peninsula also boasts an impressive system of trails. An estimated 30 miles of trails traverse the peninsula through grassy dunes and old growth forests, over rocky headlands, around wetlands and through scrub pine forest.

Local experts suggest the following for great spring hiking:

The soggy, 1.5-mile round-trip Coastal Loop includes plenty of short ups and downs, with steep sections. Features included huge, ancient Sitka spruce (some 10 feet in diameter), views of the Columbia River, and fauna and flora including newts, frogs, bald eagles, owls, foxes, otters, huckleberries, mushrooms, and flowers. Access to this 1.5-mile round trip loop is near Serious Pizza and the park office at the entrance to Ilwaco’s Cape Disappointment State Park (Discovery Pass required for cars). Dogs on leash are permitted.

The Weather Beach and Bearberry trails at Leadbetter Point, on the north end of the Peninsula, are likely to be under water this time of year. The 1.1-mile Bay Loop (green trail) offers mud without wading, birding sites, scrub pine forest, marsh grass fields and flat terrain. A Discover Pass is required for parking at Leadbetter Point State Park.

Delight in signs of spring (and mud) on three trails at the headquarters of the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge: ¼-mile Art Trail mostly on boardwalk; fern-laden Cut Throat Climb, a ¾-mile loop; and nearby third-mile Teal Slough, showcasing millennium-old western red cedar and Sitka spruce trees. The refuge headquarters is near milepost 24 on State Route 101. Teal Slough is 1.6 miles northeast of the headquarters.

Spring Hiking on the Paved Discovery Trail
For the mud adverse, all but a short section of Discovery Trail on the west side of the Cape Disappointment headlands is paved. This 8.5-mile long coastal interpretive path stretches from Ilwaco on a forested climb and descent to Beard’s Hollow wetlands, then through grassy dunes to a mile north of Long Beach, with a forested spur to North Head Lighthouse added in 2014. Access points most with free parking are at the Port of Ilwaco, Beard’s Hollow, the Seaview and both Long Beach beach approaches, as well as the south end of the Breakers Resort. In Long Beach, the trail parallels a ½ mile wooden boardwalk. The trail is shared with cyclists, and dogs on leashes are permitted.

For more information on the Peninsula’s trails and recreational offerings, please call the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau at 360.642.2400 or access www.funbeach.com.

Information provided by Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau

Sandsations brings master sand sculptors to Long Beach, WA on July 23rd

Sandsations, one of the nation’s best sand-sculpting competitions and exhibitions, will be take place on July 23, in Long Beach, Washington. Participants of all ages and levels of experience will build fantastic creations, while racing against the incoming tide. Sculpting starts at 6AM and finishes at noon. Spectators are welcome.

Build up to the event begins on July 19, with tons of beach sand dumped at the Bolstad approach in Long Beach. Master sculptors, including Ed Mah and Scott Dosch, can be seen carving from July 19 through 22, with their creations on display through July 24. People are encouraged to vote for their favorites.

The action moves to the beach on Friday afternoon, July 22, with free sand-sculpting lessons and late registration. Weather permitting, after the lessons there will be a bonfire, S’more kits for the first 100 people, a dance on the boardwalk from 7 until 10PM, and a fire spinning exhibition at 10PM to wrap up the evening.

For the main competition on Saturday, buckets, shovels, trowels, forms and water will be used to transform simple sand into massive, imaginative sculptures. Masters will begin building at 6AM and teams and solos will start at 8AM – all racing the incoming tide and waves, before they sweep the beach clean.

More free sand-sculpting lessons will take place at noon as judging begins. Winners and prizes will be awarded starting at 1PM, when the people’s choice award for the downtown sculptures will be announced. There is also a full lineup of entertainment scheduled at the Pavilion on Bolstad from noon until 6PM.

The contest takes place at the shoreline adjacent to the Long Beach boardwalk and near the Bolstad beach approach.
 

Registration fees range from $65 for masters to $1 each for children under 12.

All summer long, two-hour sand-sculpting lessons will be available for a fee to small groups of up to 10 people on Wednesdays through Sundays, in Long Beach. People will gain hands-on experience from concept and technique through build and sculpting. Sign up at www.sandsationslongbeach.com/sand-sculpting-lessons.

Long Beach is Washington’s quintessential beach town with access to 28 miles of wide, silver-sand beach, a one-half mile long boardwalk, 8.5-mile Discovery Trail, two historic lighthouses, wildlife refuges, as well as state and national parks. Visitors enjoy colorful kite and gift shops, galleries and one-of-a-kind museums, as well as beach treats – double scoops of ice cream and saltwater taffy. Ocean view and waterfront lodging and great places to eat round out the mix.

For event details and online registration, please access www.sandsationslongbeach.com. For destination information, call the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau at 360.642.2400 or access www.funbeach.com

How to Have a Great Beach Vacation with Your Family

Families love beach vacations. As free time becomes more precious, creating the “perfect” family getaway carries more importance. Here are tips from vacation experts at Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau to help ensure a great family beach vacation.

Do a little research. Start with the destination website including the event calendar. Look for ideas on places to stay, where to eat and what to do. Blog posts are also helpful as are itinerary builders. For more ideas and visitor feedback, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are potential resources. Search for travel stories on the destination to get third-party perspectives.

Adrift Hotel with the Pickled Fish Restaurant
is both family friendly and dog friendly. It's right on the beach!

Select lodging ahead of time and make a reservation. Do the same for any must-try restaurant choices. While some things can be left unplanned, securing lodging, especially when traveling with young children, is important. Look for lodging that fits personal tastes, needs and budget. Would quiet or more lively be the best fit? Traditional or contemporary? On-site dining or full kitchens? Stand alone vacation home or hotel or perhaps something unique like a lightkeeper’s house, yurt or vintage travel trailer?

Sketch in a simple, flexible itinerary. For each day, select the where or what for three meals and three activities. With older children, involve the entire family in the process letting each choose a food they’d like to eat and favorite thing to do. (A walk along the boardwalk with a double-scoop waffle cone might count for one of each.)

Walking on the beach at sunset.

Give children as many experiences as possible while young; they soak in everything and are enchanted by the smallest things or the largest as in joining hands of everyone in the family to try and encircle an ancient Sitka spruce or exploring tiny creatures in tide pools. Scheduling a getaway is also easier with young children before other activities (i.e. practices, game schedules, sleepovers) make finding time more tricky.

Integrate fun, age-appropriate ways to learn, such as forming letters with sticks of driftwood or exploring hands-on museum exhibits like those at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.

While away and especially when spending time in nature, consider keeping device use to a minimum, including social media posts. It’s easier to enforce this with older children by example.

When traveling with young children, make every effort to keep on their regular schedule including nap time. For active children, give them plenty to do to burn off extra energy with walks on the beach, bike rides on dedicated trails, something new like flying a kite, and non-structured playtime.

Create new family traditions or revisit childhood traditions, perhaps something as simple as writing a message in the sand to serve as the foreground for a family photo or using a local landmark like a giant clam pan or lighthouse as the same backdrop year after year. Recall the things that made family vacations special and memorable and share those with the next generation – digging for razor clams, feasting on whole cooked Dungeness crab, playing Frisbee on the beach with the family dog.

Seafood and Charter Fishing on the Long Beach Peninsula

Let go of 'perfect.' Expectations for what a family getaway should look like can get in the way of serendipity and those most memorable moments that magically happen when least expected. Relax and enjoy every precious second.

About the Long Beach Peninsula

With its mix of family friendly restaurants, ultra-local seafood, ocean view lodging, unique museums, landmark lighthouses, meandering trails, state and national parks, and 28-mile sandy, public beach, the Long Beach Peninsula is one of the Northwest’s most enjoyable and refreshing family destinations. For vacation planning assistance, please call the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau at 360.642.2400 or access www.visitlongbeachwa.com.

And, if you want to see what we put together for an old-fashioned family beach getaway on the Long Beach Peninsula see our article on Bindu Trips.

Ilwaco, Washington Winter Day - Discovery Trail Hike and Hearty Breakfast

Much of the Long Beach Peninsula’s Discovery Trail takes you along the beach. But a recent addition leads walkers and bikers through a beautiful coastal forest, past wetlands and on to an overlook. You can keep following the trail through scenic Cape Disappointment and then join the beach dunes section of the trail at Long Beach.

I parked at Main Street and 2nd Avenue in Ilwaco, a beautiful fishing village. Before my hike I noticed signs outside the Portside Café at 303 1^st Avenue S and thought it might be worth a try after I worked up an appetite.

This segment of the trail begins after you climb a road to the trailhead. You’ll see boardwalks taking you through the woods and on to a wide asphalt trail. This segment is ideal for biking if you don’t mind a few hills and great for walkers. I walked my dog up and down the undulating trail passing views of the wetlands, trickling streams with “skunk cabbage” blooming and on to open lands with a picnic table close to the road.

The habitat changes as you walk. In one damp and shaded area, orange-bellied brown newts were slowly crossing the road. They are pretty little amphibians so I kept my dog away from them and was careful where I walked.

Much of the trail is shaded by trees.  The fern-filled forest floor with small streams meandering through it might make for a cool walk on a summer day. We continued to the Beard’s Hollow overlook and then turned around to walk back to our starting point.

After walking carefully down the steep road, I was, indeed, ready for a hearty meal. I was greeted by Deb and Lauri, new owners of the Portside Café. They were baking bread and serving up late breakfasts.

They explained that they were excited about this new venture and were making improvements to the menu and sourcing locally more than before.

The white board listed an enticing Pork Sirloin and Eggs breakfast for only $10. I opted for their homemade bread made into French toast accompanied by bacon, cooked just right.

Portside Café will make a box lunch for you to take on your hike or serve as a great reward after a Discovery Trail walk or bike ride. And, since Ilwaco is a fishing village, the duo plans to open as early as 4 a.m. to serve the fishermen.

This will be an establishment worth watching as they implement all their ideas.

About the Discovery Trail

Tree sculpture at the end of the Discovery Trail

The Discovery Trail stretches 8 miles from Ilwaco, Wash., through Cape Disappointment State Park north to Long Beach. You can hike the entire trail or travel segments from one of the many trailheads. Portions of the trail are open to bikes.

The trail winds through coastal forest and wetlands at Beards Hollow in Cape Disappointment, then travels along the dunes north past Long Beach.

The trail segment in Long Beach has four key monuments related to the Corps of Discovery's exploration of the area: a 9-foot etched basalt monolith, a gray whale skeleton, a life-size bronze of Clark with sturgeon and Clark's Tree, a 19-foot bronze sculpture noting the most Northwest point the Corps reached on its trip.

More Information
Discovery Trail Information and Map
Visiting the Long Beach Peninsula
Portside Café
Visiting Ilwaco