Kids’ Sing-Along with Steve Elci & Friends

Kids’ Sing-Along with Steve Elci & Friends keeps the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival’s youngest sailors, mermaids and sea monsters moving Saturday, September 12, with a free waterfront concert immediately following the festival’s children’s costume parade.

The concert is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at Custom House Pier in downtown New London, according to the band’s current announcement. Steve Elci & Friends will be joined by costumed characters The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder for a family sing-along built around familiar songs, dancing and audience participation.

But the poster’s “After the Parade!” isn’t just a bit of nautical decoration.

There really is a parade.

Earlier Saturday, families can head to Fort Trumbull State Park for free face painting, make costumes, and then join the Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade, one of the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival’s signature children’s events.

The parade begins at 11:30 a.m. at Fort Trumbull State Park, according to the festival’s most recent published information.

That makes the two events a natural Saturday pairing: dress up and parade through Fort Trumbull in the morning, then head downtown for music with Steve Elci & Friends.

11:30 a.m. — Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Take Over Fort Trumbull

The festival’s children’s parade isn’t intended to be something families simply stand along the route and watch.

Kids are encouraged to become part of it.

Saturday morning’s children’s programming at Fort Trumbull includes free face painting and costume making, giving kids a chance to transform themselves into mermaids, pirates, sea monsters and other maritime characters before the parade begins.

Free face painting is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Fort Trumbull.

The festival describes the parade as a combination of local folklore, music, dancers, military marchers and fantastical sea creatures. Earlier festival materials have also called it the Mermaids and Privateers Children’s Walking Parade, but the current 2026 family programming identifies it as the Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade.

It’s a relatively new tradition.

The first Mermaids & Sea Monsters Parade was held during the 2022 Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival, when participants traveled through downtown New London from Bank Street to City Pier.

By 2023, organizers were already calling it the third annual parade.

For 2026, they’ve changed things around.

Instead of beginning downtown, this year’s parade is being held at Fort Trumbull State Park, putting the procession in the middle of the festival’s large family activity area.

That also makes it easier for children to create a costume and then immediately become part of the event.

After the Parade, Steve Elci & Friends Take Over Custom House Pier

Once the procession ends, the party shifts downtown.

Steve Elci & Friends are scheduled to perform at 12:30 p.m. at Custom House Pier, with The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder joining them.

The concert is free and designed as a participatory children’s sing-along rather than a conventional sit-and-watch performance.

The poster gets directly to the point:

“It’s time to dance and sing to some of your favorite songs!”

That’s familiar territory for Elci.

Steve Elci Has Been Making Music for Kids Since 2010

New London County families may already know Steve Elci & Friends, but the group’s reach extends well beyond southeastern Connecticut.

The award-winning children’s music group has been performing since 2010, taking its shows from New England to Florida and Nashville.

Elci’s approach to children’s music is deliberately interactive.

The goal isn’t to place children quietly in front of a stage while adults perform at them. Singing, dancing, movement and participation are built into the experience.

That philosophy has also carried into the group’s recorded music and educational projects.

The Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival describes Steve Elci & Friends as an Emmy-nominated, award-winning children’s music group, and there’s a local reason for that Emmy connection.

Kidsploration Put Elci’s Music Together With Education and Adventure

In 2014, Steve Elci & Friends partnered with The Day newspaper to create Kidsploration, an online children’s program combining music, education and adventure.

The project earned an Emmy nomination.

It was a logical extension of what Elci had already been doing onstage.

Children’s entertainment can be fun without treating children as passive spectators. Music can become the doorway into exploring something else.

That’s particularly appropriate at the Maritime Heritage Festival.

A child might arrive because there’s a mermaid.

Then climb aboard a ship.

Touch a sea creature.

Watch a Coast Guard rescue demonstration.

Walk through a Revolutionary War encampment.

Listen to music.

And leave knowing considerably more about the place where they live than when they arrived.

The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder Join the Band

Saturday’s concert adds two recognizable seafaring characters to that formula.

The festival announcement identifies The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder as joining Steve Elci & Friends for the sing-along.

The Wayfinder character draws on the Polynesian voyaging tradition popularized for modern children through Disney’s Moana, while The Little Mermaid brings another familiar ocean story into the program.

Their presence connects the morning costume parade with the concert that follows.

Children who’ve just spent part of the morning dressed as mermaids, pirates and sea creatures aren’t suddenly being asked to switch gears.

The fantasy continues at the pier.

Custom House Pier Puts the Concert Beside a Working Harbor

The setting is particularly good for a children’s maritime concert.

Custom House Pier sits on South Water Street beside New London’s downtown waterfront, looking across the Thames River and New London Harbor.

This isn’t a decorative body of water created to make a festival look nautical.

It’s a working harbor.

Ferries, recreational boats, Coast Guard vessels, commercial traffic and other ships move through the river, while Naval Submarine Base New London sits upriver in Groton and the Coast Guard Academy occupies the New London side of the Thames.

A few steps away is Custom House Maritime Museum – New London Maritime Society, housed in New London’s 1833 U.S. Custom House.

So while kids sing about the sea, the real thing is directly behind them.

Getting From the Parade to the Concert Takes a Little Planning

There’s one important practical detail for parents.

The parade and concert are not at the same location.

The Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade takes place at Fort Trumbull State Park, while Steve Elci & Friends perform afterward at Custom House Pier downtown.

The festival has anticipated the problem of moving between its waterfront locations.

Free transportation operates throughout the weekend.

Visitors can travel aboard the Thames River Heritage Park water taxi or use the festival’s free shuttle buses connecting the major festival areas.

The water taxi operates continuously from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday between Fort Trumbull, City Pier and Thames River Landing in Groton. There isn’t a fixed departure schedule, and boarding is first-come, first-served.

Families trying to make the 12:30 concert immediately after the parade should keep the travel time in mind.

The festival recommends parking once and using its free transportation to move between locations rather than repeatedly relocating the car.

There’s Plenty More for Kids Before and After the Music

The parade and Steve Elci concert are only part of Saturday’s family programming.

The festival’s Kids Nautical Zone offers crafts, games and educational activities.

Project Oceanology brings marine life close enough for children to explore through its touch-tank programming.

There’s also Salt, a life-size inflatable whale that children can actually walk through while learning about whale biology.

At 1:30 p.m., shortly after Steve Elci & Friends finish, the U.S. Coast Guard is scheduled to conduct a search-and-rescue helicopter demonstration over the waterfront.

Families can also tour participating vessels during the day, including military, training and historic ships visiting New London for the festival.

Among the vessels highlighted for 2026 is the USCGC Eagle, the Coast Guard’s 295-foot tall ship and training vessel.

The Eagle’s presence is particularly significant this year because the Coast Guard Academy is celebrating its 150th anniversary.

Saturday morning’s festival opening includes the unveiling of a new U.S. Postal Service commemorative stamp honoring that anniversary.

For a child who comes because they want their face painted like a mermaid, there’s a surprising amount of real maritime history waiting around the corner.

Two Very Different Parades Happen Saturday

There’s also a fun contrast built into Saturday’s schedule.

The Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade isn’t the only procession taking place in New London.

At 7:30 p.m., the tone changes considerably when Flock Theatre begins its annual March of the Traitor on Bank Street.

That procession commemorates Benedict Arnold’s devastating 1781 attack on New London and leads to Waterfront Park, where Arnold is burned in effigy.

A 300-drone light show over the Thames follows later in the evening.

So New London gets two parades in one day.

At 11:30 a.m., children dressed as mermaids and sea monsters march through Fort Trumbull.

At 7:30 p.m., adults in Revolutionary-era garb march Benedict Arnold toward his fiery demise.

That’s a fairly good illustration of just how much the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival is trying to fit into one Saturday.

Start With a Costume and Stay for the Ships

For families with younger children, the morning-to-afternoon sequence may be one of the easiest ways to approach what is otherwise an enormous festival.

Get to Fort Trumbull in time for face painting and costume making.

Join the Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade at 11:30.

Then use festival transportation to head downtown.

At 12:30, Steve Elci & Friends, The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder take over Custom House Pier.

And when the music ends, the ships, touch tanks, waterfront activities and Coast Guard demonstration are still waiting.

The Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival is ostensibly about preserving the state’s relationship with the sea.

Saturday’s children’s programming approaches that mission from a different direction.

First, make the sea fun.

The history can follow.

Details

Event: Kids’ Sing-Along with Steve Elci & Friends
Festival: Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival
Date: Saturday, September 12, 2026
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Performers: Steve Elci & Friends with The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder
Location: Custom House Pier
Street: South Water Street, New London, CT
Admission: Free
Ages: All ages / family program
Program: Children’s music, singing and dancing
Related Event: Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade
Parade Time: 11:30 a.m.
Parade Location: Fort Trumbull State Park, 90 Walbach Street, New London
Before the Parade: Free face painting and costume making; face painting is scheduled from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Saturday
Important: The parade and concert take place at different festival locations
Transportation: Free festival shuttle buses and Thames River Heritage Park water taxi service connect festival areas
Water Taxi Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; continuous service with no fixed departure schedule and first-come, first-served boarding
Festival: Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival runs September 12–13 along the New London waterfront
Parking: Festival organizers recommend parking in a downtown Water Street garage or near Fort Trumbull and using the free transportation system between festival locations
Weather: Outdoor festival programming may be affected by weather; check the festival’s current schedule before traveling

 

 

Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.