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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260912T113000
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DTSTAMP:20260915T022619Z
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SUMMARY:Children’s Walking Parade:
Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters
DESCRIPTION:Mermaid & Privateer Children’s Walking Parade:
Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters invites children to become part of the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival on Saturday\, September 12\, with a free\, costumed procession through Fort Trumbull State Park and Museum in New London. \nThe parade begins at 11:30 a.m. at Fort Trumbull and is part of the festival’s family programming. Children are encouraged to dress as mermaids\, privateers\, pirates\, sea monsters\, and other nautical characters\, with free face painting and costume-making activities helping families get ready before the procession begins. Current festival coverage also calls it the Mermaids and Privateers Parade\, while event calendars use Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade\, so families may see both names for Saturday’s event. \nThis isn’t a parade where kids are expected to stand behind a barricade and watch someone else have all the fun. \nThey’re invited to join in. \nFirst\, Make Yourself Into a Sea Creature\nFamilies can arrive at Fort Trumbull before the 11:30 a.m. start and make the transformation part of the morning. \nThe festival’s Kids Nautical Zone includes children’s activities throughout the weekend\, and Saturday’s programming includes face painting and costume activities before the parade. The larger festival opens at 10 a.m.\, giving families time to explore before lining up for the procession. \nThat means elaborate homemade costumes aren’t required. \nA child who arrives Saturday morning dressed like an ordinary human can still end up marching as something considerably more aquatic. \nMermaids are an obvious choice\, but the concept is intentionally broad. Pirates\, privateers and imaginary creatures all fit into a procession built around the centuries-old combination of the sea and human imagination. \nWhy Mermaids and Sea Monsters Belong at a Maritime Festival\nA weekend devoted to maritime heritage could limit itself to ships\, sailors and naval history. \nThe sea has never been that simple. \nFor as long as people have traveled beyond the shoreline\, they’ve brought stories home with them. \nUnfamiliar animals became monsters. Strange shapes glimpsed from a moving ship acquired elaborate explanations. Mermaids and other humanlike sea creatures appeared independently in folklore around the world. Sailors carried stories from one port to another\, changing them along the way. \nEven the monsters sometimes had something real behind them. \nManatees and dugongs have been suggested as possible sources of some mermaid sightings. Giant squid were once creatures of legend before science confirmed that enormous cephalopods really did inhabit the deep ocean. Whales could be terrifyingly large to someone encountering one from a wooden boat. \nThe boundary between natural history and maritime folklore could become wonderfully blurry. \nSaturday’s parade takes that tradition and lets children run with it. \nPirates and Privateers Aren’t Quite the Same Thing\nThe other characters likely to appear Saturday come with a little more historical baggage. \nA pirate operated outside the law. \nA privateer operated with government authorization\, usually under a commission or letter of marque permitting a privately owned vessel to attack and capture enemy shipping during wartime. \nFrom the perspective of the people whose ship was being captured\, the distinction may not have been terribly comforting. \nBut legally\, it mattered. \nPrivateering became particularly important during the American Revolution\, when the new United States lacked the enormous naval establishment possessed by Britain. \nNew London and Connecticut’s other ports were deeply connected to that maritime world. \nSo the privateers marching around Fort Trumbull Saturday aren’t entirely imaginary visitors. \nThey have historical roots here. \nFort Trumbull Is a Particularly Good Place for the Parade\nThe parade’s 2026 setting gives the fantasy a very real historical backdrop. \nFort Trumbull occupies a strategic position overlooking the Thames River and New London Harbor. The current masonry fort dates largely to the 19th century\, but the site’s military history reaches back to the American Revolution. \nAnd one of the darkest days in New London’s history happened here. \nOn September 6\, 1781\, British forces commanded by Benedict Arnold attacked the New London and Groton area. \nThe earlier Fort Trumbull was overwhelmed. \nAcross the river\, the fighting at Fort Griswold became much bloodier. British troops captured the fort\, and American commander Col. William Ledyard was killed after surrendering his sword. \nMuch of New London was burned during the raid. \nThat history becomes especially relevant during this year’s Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival because 2026 marks the nation’s 250th anniversary\, and Revolutionary War history is woven throughout the weekend. \nBritish and American reenactors will establish 18th-century encampments at Fort Trumbull\, complete with canvas tents\, camp kitchens and open fires. Visitors can meet reenactors and watch military drills and marching demonstrations. \nSo children dressed as privateers will be walking through a place where the history they’re pretending actually happened. \nThis Is One Piece of a Huge Morning at Fort Trumbull\nFamilies could easily build most of Saturday around the parade. \nThe Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the day\, with vessel tours\, children’s programming\, living history\, vendors\, live entertainment and maritime demonstrations spread between Fort Trumbull and the downtown waterfront. \nThe festival’s 2026 vessel lineup is unusually substantial. \nVisitors will be able to explore visiting military\, training and historic vessels\, while the waterfront programming includes Coast Guard demonstrations and activities connected to the Coast Guard Academy’s 150th anniversary. \nAt 10 a.m.\, the U.S. Postal Service will formally dedicate a new U.S. Coast Guard Academy Forever stamp at the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival. The ceremony is part of the Academy’s sesquicentennial celebration. \nThen\, at 11:30\, the mermaids and monsters get their turn. \nAfter the Parade\, Follow the Music Downtown\nThere’s another reason to join the parade rather than treating it as an isolated event. \nAt 12:30 p.m.\, Steve Elci & Friends perform a free children’s sing-along at Custom House Pier with The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder. \nThe concert poster explicitly bills the performance as an “After the Parade!” event. \nThat creates a natural progression for families. \nStart at Fort Trumbull for face painting and costume activities. \nJoin the parade at 11:30. \nThen head toward the downtown waterfront for singing and dancing. \nThe one thing parents need to understand is that the parade and concert are at different festival locations. \nFortunately\, organizers are providing free transportation between festival areas. The Thames River Heritage Park water taxi operates continuously from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. between Fort Trumbull\, City Pier and Thames River Landing in Groton. Free shuttle buses are also available. The water taxi doesn’t operate on a fixed timetable\, and boarding is first-come\, first-served. \nThe Kids Get a Parade Before Benedict Arnold Gets His\nThere’s also a wonderfully strange symmetry to Saturday’s schedule. \nThe Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade isn’t the only procession through New London that day. \nAt 7:30 p.m.\, Flock Theatre begins the considerably less childlike Burning of Benedict Arnold – March of the Traitor. \nParticipants march from Bank Street toward Waterfront Park in a revival of New London’s historic tradition of symbolically punishing Arnold for the 1781 destruction of the city. The march culminates in the burning of an Arnold effigy on the waterfront. \nA 300-drone light show over the Thames River follows later that evening. \nSo New London gets bookend processions Saturday. \nThe morning belongs to mermaids\, pirates and sea monsters. \nThe evening belongs to an infamous Revolutionary War traitor. \nA Parade Kids Don’t Have to Watch From the Sidewalk\nThat’s ultimately what distinguishes the Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade from many festival parades. \nThe children aren’t merely the audience. \nThey’re the parade. \nThey can put on a costume\, have their face painted\, march through one of Connecticut’s most important maritime historic sites and then continue the adventure with music\, ships\, sailors and hands-on activities around the waterfront. \nThe Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival is supposed to introduce people to the state’s relationship with the sea. \nFor a five-year-old\, explaining 250 years of naval and maritime history may not be the most effective opening argument. \nAsk whether they want to become a mermaid or a sea monster. \nYou can work on the history afterward. \nDetails\nEvent: Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade\nAlso Promoted As: Mermaids and Privateers Parade\nFestival: Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival\nDate: Saturday\, September 12\, 2026\nTime: 11:30 a.m.\nLocation: Fort Trumbull State Park and Museum\nAddress: 90 Walbach Street\, New London\, CT 06320\nAdmission: Free\nAges: Family-friendly / all ages\nParticipation: Children are encouraged to dress up and join the parade\nCostumes: Mermaids\, sea monsters\, pirates\, privateers and other maritime-inspired characters fit the theme\nBefore the Parade: Children’s activities and face painting are available as part of the festival programming\nFestival Hours: Daytime festival activities run 10 a.m.–5 p.m.\nAfter the Parade: Steve Elci & Friends perform a children’s sing-along at 12:30 p.m. at Custom House Pier\nTransportation: Free shuttle buses and Thames River Heritage Park water taxi service connect major festival locations\nWater Taxi: Continuous service from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. between Fort Trumbull\, City Pier and Thames River Landing; first-come\, first-served\nParking: Festival organizers recommend parking in a downtown Water Street garage or near Fort Trumbull and using free festival transportation between venues\nSetting: Outdoors; dress for waterfront weather \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/mermaid-privateer-childrens-walking-parade-little-mermaids-and-sea-monsters/
LOCATION:Fort Trumbull State Park\, 90 Walbach Street\, New London\, CT\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:Fort Trumbull State Park
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Mermaid-and-Privateer-Childrens-Walking-Parade-
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