29th Annual Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook Off & Festival

Steve and I had never made it to the annual chowder festival before. We always seemed to be out of town when it was held. But this year, we were in town and available. The weather was a bit gloomy, but the wind sure made the sailboat racers happy.



We walked from our house to the Boardwalk and found the first ticket booth for the event. The line was down the block. Volunteers were shouting that there were other booths farther down the Boardwalk, but nobody budged. Steve and I wandered down the next ticket booth and found it deserted. A little ironic that people weren’t willing to talk a few hundred more feet when they would spend the rest of the day walking up and down the Boardwalk anyway.

Steve and I each purchased “tasting kits.” They came with a small bowl, spoon, napkin, 5 tickets and a slip of blue paper with “People’s Choice” printed on it. There were around 70 entrants in the cook-off and their booths lined the Boardwalk end-to-end. You select a booth whose chowder you want to try, give them a ticket and your bowl and they give you a sample of their entry.


Sharing, Steve and I were able to try 10 different chowders. Some of those around us seemed to have strategies to only try the best and most popular, but Steve and I stopped somewhat arbitrarily at booths that caught our eye. My favorite chowder turned out to be one I only tried because the cook was yelling “you’re tried the rest, now try… another one!” and it amused me. So, I presented them with my “People’s Choice” paper. At the end of the day, the entrant who collect the most of those slips get the People’s Choice prize (cash and airline tickets).


It was an absolute zoo. Obviously, this is a very popular event and we certainly had perfect chowder weather today.


We probably won’t feel the need to fight the crowds to do it again, but we had a good (and tasty) time.