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No shore, but it’s clams galore
The event, now a Valley tradition, began with $3 tickets and was for men only.
YOUNGSTOWN — A whole lotta clams have been slurped, swallowed and savored since St. Edward Church started its clambake 70 years ago. This year will be no exception — almost 19,000 clams will be served.
The annual event began as a project of the Men’s Club of the church. “It was 1938 and it was Monsignor [William] Nash’s idea,” said John Manning, 88, who said he has belonged to the church “forever.” Clambakes might be more often associated with coastal cities, but Mahoning Valley residents embraced the idea.
In the early years, the project was a fundraiser to benefit new churches and some funds went to Kent State University Newman Center. Now it’s a fund-raiser for the church.
Manning recalled that tickets for the first clambake were $3; now they’re $45. The third Thursday of August, which is this week, is the traditional date. The event at Our Lady of Mount Carmel hall, 343 Via Mount Carmel, will be attended by 400 people. Tickets have gone quickly; none will be sold at the door.
Manning, Moon Barrett and Pat Reardon, who recently reminisced about the clambakes, said a lot of “heavy hitters” from the Valley — company owners, union leaders and philanthropists — supported the event through the years. They mentioned names of Tony O’Horo, John Caffee, Jack Fitzgerald, Dr. Bill Flynn, Ralph and Carmen Naples, Charles Cushwa, John Coakley, John Powers and Jim Griffin, and many others who supported the event.
The first event took place in the church parking lot, 240 Tod Lane. In a written memory in the church bulletin, Manning wrote that “we ran out of clams.”
In the beginning, entertainment including a magician was featured. Entertainment has been eliminated, giving way to emphasis on eating and socializing. But for many years, entertainment was card playing.
John McNally recalled hauling cases of beer to card players in his younger days. “They’d play until 3 or 4 in the morning,” he said. He helps run the event with his wife, Jeanne, the event’s chairwoman.
The clambake began as and remained a men’s-only event for many years. “It just evolved. It’s a commentary on social history,” Reardon said of the event now attended by many families.
Though the workers would be exhausted, he said, it was a satisfying kind of tiredness after a huge effort to help the church. “We all got drafted. We would be exhausted, but we were young and didn’t know any better,” said Reardon. “When the pastor asked you to help, you did.”
The clambake moved from the parking lot to the former church school, House of Valley in Hubbard, then Mahoning Country Club, and it’s been at Mount Carmel hall for the last 20 years.
Lou Fusillo, chef and caterer at Mount Carmel hall, oversees the event. The menu — clams, corn, chicken and sweet potatoes — has remained the same.
“It’s fast and furious,” Manning said of the eating. He and others recalled times before air-conditioning when diners would be sweating but engrossed in consuming clams.
The clams are delivered to the tables in mesh bags containing a dozen clams. Clam eaters may consume two or three dozen, Jean McNally said, and noted that no one ever refuses clams.
Manning offered this clam-eating advice: “Don’t eat a clam that isn’t opened. That’s the way you tell if it’s cooked.”