The Yarmouth Music Boosters are getting their chops up for Clam Festival, with big plans for the money they raise there.
This year, they’d like to award summer music-camp scholarships to Yarmouth Middle and High School music students and to support special music assemblies with guest artists for all students to enjoy.
For more than 25 years, the Music Boosters have run a food booth at Clam Festival to support their mission of fostering lifelong enjoyment of, appreciation for, and participation in musical arts.
With funds raised at Clam Festival, they’ve helped student musicians cover the costs of participating in jazz competitions, the Portland Symphony’s Youth Concert, and the Music in the Parks Festival.
Last April, the Boosters sponsored “Jazzapalooza,” an event where members of the Portland Jazz Orchestra held performance clinics with students in grades five through twelve. That evening, they staged a concert at the Yarmouth Performing Arts Center featuring performances by Yarmouth Middle School and High School jazz bands as well as the Portland Jazz Orchestra.
“Next spring, we hope to invite the University Singers from U Maine Orono to perform for us,” said Yarmouth High School music teacher, Rick Dustin. “Their visit often involves a clinic with our students, and it may be some a cappella singing work that the Steiners, the men's a cappella group; and Renaissance, the women's a cappella group, do with our boys and girls here at Yarmouth High School.”
"We have a well-supported music program, and the Music Boosters greatly add to that,” says Dustin. “Their work enables our students to access enriching performances and musical opportunities that inspire and motivate them to grow and achieve in music."
This year at Clam Festival, the Music Boosters will sell fish chowder, meatball grinders, hot pretzels, bagels and cream cheese, muffins, cinnamon rolls, coffee, tea, chai, and whoopee pies — all for the love of music.
The Clam Festival is a fundraising event organized by the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce to support non-profit organizations that work for the benefit of our community. Admission is free, and entry to all performances and contests are free all weekend. Fees for food and parking support Yarmouth’s non-profit groups, who volunteer to prepare a wide range of food offerings, attend booths and parking lots, and provide services that make the Festival fun and family-friendly for the whole community. Funds they raise at Clam Festival keep them working toward their missions all year. Thank you for coming to the 44th annual Clam Festival to support Yarmouth’s non-profit community-service organizations!
