Subscribe via email

Grab our RSS Feed

Springfield Firefighters Have a Clam Bake

by Bill Dusty

Springfield firefighters held their “Fallen Firefighters” Golf Tournament and Clam Bake this past Friday, June 22. The weather was typically New England-ishwith the skies bringing periods of rain and sunshine throughout the day. The clam bake not only offered steamed clams and clams on a half-shell, but also hotdogs and hamburgers, and grilled corn and steaks as well. Beer was also available on tap.

I was unable to attend the golf tournament held earlier in the day, but I arrived at the clam bake at about 3:30pm. The clam bake was held at the Springfield VFW, Post 7352. I was told that some thirty years ago, the VFW was a house located at the same site, and that it was called “The Chapel in the Pines.” That era came to an end with the opening of the new building, shown above.

There was certainly no shortage of food at the event. Rather than offering everything all at once, most of the food was cooked in well-timed stages.

The feasting started off with hamburgers and hotdogs. As the burgers and hotdogs were being served, firefighters Drew Piemonte and Shawn Quinn (shown above) served up some delicious clams on a half-shell!

Next up came the clam chowder, and as this was being served, the cooking crew put corn husks on the grill for the next phase…

Finally, the steamed clams – you can never have enough of those, right? – were served out to an eager crowd.

It was also at around this time that the event’s raffle started up, and it began with a solemn moment of silence for the nine firefighters who had recently lost their lives in South Carolina.

As we all awaited the steaks to be grilled up, the steamers kept on coming, and many folks (including myself) stepped on up for seconds.

Retired Springfield police officer Norm Provost (above, on right) made his appearance. He’s actually not as old as he looks in this photograph. But close. Norm ate everything in sight.

With the feasting stretching into the third hour, the steaks and baked potatoes were cooked up and passed out to anyone left who still had room for just a bit more food. I have to say, it was certainly the most I’ve eaten in a single day in quite some time. The food just kept on coming and coming…Finally, as 7:00pm approached, I forked down my last bite of mouth-watering steak, cleaning my plate. And that’s just about the time the call went out: “Anyone who wants more steamed clams, come on up! More steamers for anyone who wants ‘em!”

I rolled my eyes…. no waycould I possibly consume anything more.

Firefighter Drew Piemonte only smiled as he devoured his own steak dinner. “Oh well,” he said, “over-bought again this year.”

Posted by Bill Dusty on Jun 26th, 2007 and filed under Feature Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.