“Chowderfest” was canceled. In its place, the new and improved Beach Haven Chowder Cook-Off was a soup-erlative event that brought more than 7,500 hungry taste-testers to the Taylor Avenue field behind Bay Village this weekend.

The same number had attended the previous day’s Merchant’s Mart. The decades-long tradition of competition and community spirit is thriving and, in some ways, more successful than ever.