My wife and I were very excited to attend our first Chowder Cookoff. What a perfect day and venue for an outdoor event. But don't let the scenery fool you. We arrived at 230pm and were advised by the folks at the entrance that "they were running low on the chowder" , to find out that only 3 participants had any chowder left to sample. Now, I understand that it was a busy festival but this doesn't obscure the fact that to have a Chowder Cookoff and sampling event you have to have chowder! Duh!! Really!! No excuses from the restaurants. The restaurants planned their yields, portions and preparations poorly. It wasn't as if the weather forecast 7 days leading into the event was misleading therefore causing the participants to "second guess" the estimated crowds. It is really inexcusable not to have enough chowder to get thru an afternoon of tastings! This leads me to a point. How can Havanas secured enough votes based on tasting if they were out of chowder prior to 230pm with another 2.5 hours of tasting and voting to take place? Smells fishy to me (no pun intended). Next year tell the participating chefs to prepare enough chowder for the chowder festival!