The 23rd Annual Sebastian Clambake comes back to Riverview Park on November 7 and 8. It runs two days this year instead of three. Saturday goes from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no Friday evening on the schedule.
The Sebastian Clambake calls itself a "Lagoon Festival," a celebration of a way of life shaped by the Indian River Lagoon. This year, that way of life is also on the City Council's agenda. The city is working to buy a historic dock on Indian River Drive where oysters from that lagoon are still counted, cleaned and packed for market.
Two Days Instead of Three
If you went last year, the 2026 schedule will look shorter in a few specific places. Sebastian Daily's preview of the 2025 festival listed a three-day event, November 7 through 9. It opened with a Friday tasting from 6 to 9 p.m. and a 7 p.m. concert.
| 2025 festival | 2026 festival | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | November 7–9 | November 7–8 |
| Friday | Tasting 6–9 p.m., concert 7–9 p.m. | Not on the schedule |
| Saturday | 11 a.m.–9 p.m. | 11 a.m.–9 p.m. |
| Sunday | Noon–5 p.m. | 11 a.m.–5 p.m. |
| Admission | Free | Free |
Last year's Friday also had the festival's newest item, a $10 tasting plate sold that night only. With no Friday this year, the festival starts with Saturday's full day. Sunday gets back an hour by opening at 11 instead of noon.
The rest of the format holds. Admission is free. Tickets for food and official Clambake T-shirts are sold on site. The festival's site promises live local bands all weekend and a menu with steamed clams, shrimp, conch fritters, pizza, clam pizza and French fries. For a sense of the full spread, the 2025 menu Sebastian Daily published also included clam strips, clam chowder, and linguine with red or white clam sauce. That was last year's list, and the 2026 menu and band lineup will come from the festival itself.
Where the Weekend's Money Goes
The Clambake is a fundraiser. It is presented by the Sebastian Clambake Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 2002 that is made up of local public service groups and supported by area businesses. Festival proceeds go to regional nonprofit programs and nonprofit capital improvement projects. The foundation says it has granted more than $1,000,000 to local charities so far.
That cycle is already underway for this year. The foundation's beneficiary information page shows the application deadline for local organizations was extended to October 15, 2026. So the groups hoping to share in this year's proceeds are lined up before the first plate of steamed clams is served.
The foundation ties all of this back to the water. Its own description says the Indian River Lagoon has been the heartbeat of the community since the 1700s, giving recreation, beauty and food to generation after generation. On Indian River Drive, harvesting shellfish from the lagoon is still a working business.
The Lagoon at Work on Indian River Drive
TCPalm reported in February that you can hear oysters being sorted at the historic Sembler dock on the Indian River Drive working waterfront. That is where Nicolette Mariano and her crew at Treasure Coast Shellfish work. The oysters come from the Indian River Lagoon south of Sebastian Inlet. The crew checks that each one is alive and free of barnacles before packing them for market or for wholesale orders across Florida and the country.
The same outlet's headline called Mariano one of only four oyster farmers left on Florida's east coast. At the Clambake, shellfish is the theme on a festival menu. At the Sembler dock, it is a daily business that depends on the lagoon south of the inlet.
The Dock the City Wants to Keep
The Sembler dock is also the center of the year's biggest riverfront decision in Sebastian. TCPalm reported that the City Council agreed to accept a $1.04 million Florida Communities Trust grant and put in $694,000 of city money. The goal is to buy 1.3 acres of waterfront land with docks along Indian River Drive from the Semblers, a longtime Indian River County commercial fishing family.
The details matter here, because the vote was an early step. Hometown News reported that the council voted unanimously on February 11 to approve the grant agreement, with the grant set at $1,041,000 and a $694,000 city match. That vote let staff begin negotiating with the owner. Parks and Recreation Director Richard Blankenship stressed that the vote covered only the grant agreement, and that price and terms had not yet been negotiated. Sebastian Daily reported on February 24 that the deal still needed the state's approval, and that city staff had already arranged a willing-owner statement and new appraisals to move it forward. Both the Semblers and the city said they expected an agreement to come together.
The plan described at the council is specific. It calls for keeping the existing Sembler dock, keeping the aquaculture operation on site, and adding public amenities. Council members said Mariano and the Treasure Coast Shellfish team would stay.
The location adds to its value. The Sembler parcel sits next to the city-owned Fisherman's Landing parcel. The city has leased that property for 10 years to Fisherman's Landing Sebastian Inc., a nonprofit that offers low-cost dockage for commercial fishing boats. The Fisherman's Landing site also includes the empty Hurricane Harbor building, once home to Crab-E-Bill's fish market. Hometown News reported that the building will eventually be torn down and replaced on the same footprint. If the purchase goes through, the two parcels together would make one longer stretch of riverfront set aside for people who earn a living on the lagoon.
A Familiar Riverfront Deck, a New Name
The dining side of the riverfront has changed too. TCPalm reported in July that Squid Lips River Deck in Sebastian is now Redfish Saloon, with a new name, menu and concept. The owner said the change was meant to avoid confusion with the River Deck in New Smyrna Beach, about 100 miles away, and to avoid an estimated $60,000 in legal fees.
For anyone giving directions to visitors this season, "meet us at River Deck" now points to Redfish Saloon. It is one more update to the riverfront map to keep in mind going into a festival weekend.
Riverview Park, Before and After the Clambake
The Clambake is the biggest event on the park's fall calendar, but it isn't the only one. The City of Sebastian calendar and the city's signature-event schedule keep the riverfront busy from this week through early December:
- Friday, October 23, 5:30 p.m. Sebastian Halloween Costume Contest at Riverview Park.
- Friday, October 23, 7:15 p.m. Sebastian Police Movie Night at Riverview Park.
- Saturday, October 24, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Junior Blue Water Open at Riverview Park.
- Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Craft Club of Sebastian at Riverview Park.
- Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8. The 23rd Annual Sebastian Clambake.
- Thursday, November 19. Holiday Lights Display and Selfies with Santa, on the city's signature-event schedule.
- Saturday, December 5. The City of Sebastian Christmas Parade.
The Junior Blue Water Open, on Saturday, October 24, is a fishing tournament held in the same park that hosts the Lagoon Festival two weeks later. It puts the next generation on the same water the Clambake celebrates and the Sembler dock depends on.
If the Sembler dock talks have you wondering how Sebastian's riverfront might change in the next few years, or what a home near Indian River Drive is worth today, I'm glad to go through it with you. Contact Danielle M. Reidy to Request a Free Market Analysis, and enjoy the steamed clams at Riverview Park on November 7 and 8.
