The Wacky Raft Race, perhaps the most popular event of the annual Sebastian Clambake, gets a tune-up for the festival's fifth edition with a $200 cash prize offered to the race winner. Additionally, a cash prize will be awarded to the Most Original Raft Design at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon of the event, a part of the Clambake festivities to be held November 7-9, 2008 in Sebastian's Riverview Park.

One hundred dollars will be awarded to the winners of the Schulke, Bittle & Stoddard Award for Most Original Raft Design, which will be judged by Schulke before the race. In addition, each rafter will receive a 1-year honorary membership to the Sebastian Inlet Sail and Power Squadron.

The rules of the competition are simple - no motors, no pre-fabricated boat hulls, and up to six crew members that must stay on the raft at all times. Rafts entering the competition will be on display along Indian River Drive during Saturday and Sunday of the Clambake. Entry forms are available at www.sebastianclambake.org. Officials can be contacted via email at sebastianclambake@hotmail.com.

The Clambake, founded in 2002, seeks to build community spirit by focusing attention on the Indian River Lagoon and its importance to life in the Sebastian River area, both in the past and at present. The events featured in the Festival bring together the diverse interests that make the Lagoon an essential facet of the Sebastian lifestyle. Sebastian's vibrant fishing community is recognized in its recreational form, while the importance of the local commercial fishery in the development and history of the area is honored.

The various events highlight the growing importance of the expanded Riverview Park as a center for community fun and entertainment. Finally, the Bonfire & the Clambake, like those remembered from the Long Island and New England childhoods of so many of residents, seem to bring an endless offering of the delectable bounty of the sea, and forges a common bond between the old Sebastian clamming families and these newer residents.

The event features fresh seafood booths, live music, historic re-enactments, a boat show, a volleyball tournament, children's activities, boat races, the Kayak Poker Run,the Press-Journal Chowder Cook-Off,craft show and more. Admission is free and a park-n-ride shuttle service is provided.

But it's not just about good times and good food ... to date the Sebastian Clambake Foundation has raised over $200,000 for local charities. Each year the local nonprofit and service organizations that put on the Clambake, and are the owners of the Foundation, hear presentations from groups looking to build charitable and public projects in the North County. Projects are chosen to receive the funds raised by the Festival. This year, the Clambake Festival will benefit three organizations: the Sebastian Soccer Association's project to construct fields at its new complex across from the North County Pool; H.A.L.O. Animal Rescue's project to build a dog run; and the City of Sebastian's Flagpole Project.

Past beneficiaries for the Clambake have been the Boys & Girls Club's Sebastian Clubhouse project, Roseland's By the River affordable Senior Housing facility construction fund, the Senior Resource Association's Sebastian Center renovation project, the Sebastian Soccer Association, and the City of Sebastian for the new lighting in Riverview Park.