YARMOUTH – Mark Primeau exudes the calm of a man who knows that there’s only so much he can control.
As director of the Yarmouth Clam Festival, Primeau can make sure that the parade participants show up on time, that the midway rides start up on schedule, and that the groups selling clams, fries and lobster rolls have everything they need to serve up thousands of meals during the festival’s weekend run.
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But a lot of the festival’s success depends on factors over which he has no say.
“There’s no extreme formula for us to figure out,” said Primeau, who runs Foreside Realty when he’s not dealing with festival matters. “We do know if it pours, it’s bad, and if it’s really hot, it’s bad.”
On that basis, the festival looks to be in pretty good shape this year.
It got under way Friday night under blue skies, with temperatures around 80 as bands, old fire engines and the Shriners and their precision miniature truck team rolled down Main Street.
The forecast looks good for the rest of the weekend, although Sunday could move into the “really hot” category, with temperatures expected to climb into the mid- to upper-80s with humidity on the rise.
Groups like the Ski Club of Yarmouth high and middle schools are hoping for the best this year.
Paul Becker, president of the club, said it relies on selling about 250 gallons of fried clams at the festival each year to raise about two-thirds of the money it uses to support school skiing events.
“We’ve taken a hit” the last few years because of less-than-stellar weather and the down economy, Becker said.
With the 2011 festival starting off with a big crowd — the parade route was lined with people four or five or more deep along most of its length — he hopes to avoid what happens if the group’s booth fails to draw a lot of customers.
“Then we eat a lot of clams,” Becker said with a smile.
The clam festival has many classics, from pancake breakfasts to a clam-shucking contest, the firefighters’ muster and a diaper derby. But it can’t resist the advance of technology.
Primeau noted that the food circle, where all of the groups set up their booths, is wired for credit card machines for the first time this year.
Ryan Jacobson, assistant Nordic ski coach for the Yarmouth club, said his group set up a Web page to coordinate volunteers’ schedules. And its tally board for the number of clam orders sold has been replaced by a computer tablet.
None of that mattered to Marilyn Lyons, 77, of North Haven, Conn., who has been coming to the festival for 34 years from the family’s summer home on Little Sebago Lake.
She said an old familiar draw and one relatively new one — 2 years old — were main attractions this year.
“We come for the food,” she said, “and our granddaughter wanted to see the parade.”
Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:
emurphy@pressherald.com
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