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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261008T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261008T210000
DTSTAMP:20261005T204617Z
CREATED:20261005T195155Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T204617Z
UID:10008514-1791478800-1791493200@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Oysters & Bubbles Turns Thursdays Into a Waterfront Tradition at La Plage Mystic
DESCRIPTION:Oysters & Bubbles Turns Thursdays Into a Waterfront Tradition at La Plage Mystic\, Sept. 24 through Dec. 31\, pairing one of New England’s most natural culinary combinations with a dining room overlooking the Mystic River. \nEvery Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m.\, La Plage Restaurant & Oyster Bar puts the focus on freshly shucked oysters and sparkling wine at the waterfront restaurant inside Delamar Mystic. \nIt’s a pairing that was essentially built into La Plage from the beginning. \nWhen the restaurant opened in 2025\, oysters weren’t relegated to one corner of a larger seafood menu. The raw bar was one of the centerpieces of the concept\, with local shellfish\, Champagne\, and the maritime character of Mystic all influencing the restaurant’s identity. \nOysters & Bubbles takes that idea and gives it its own night. \nWhy Oysters and Champagne Work So Well Together\nThere is more happening in this pairing than tradition. \nRaw oysters bring salinity\, minerality\, sweetness\, and sometimes a cucumber\, melon\, or metallic quality depending on where and how they were grown. Sparkling wine contributes acidity and carbonation\, cutting through the oyster’s richness while refreshing the palate. \nThe result is one of those food-and-wine combinations in which neither side has to overpower the other. \nThere’s even been scientific interest in why the pairing works so well. Researchers studying Champagne and oysters have identified complementary umami compounds that may help explain why the combination tastes particularly satisfying. \nOf course\, people were drinking Champagne with oysters long before anyone needed laboratory evidence to justify it. \nAt La Plage\, the combination makes particular sense because oysters aren’t an occasional special. \nThey’re part of the restaurant’s identity. \nThe Oyster List Travels the Northeast Coast\nLa Plage’s raw bar rotates its oyster selection rather than relying on a single variety. \nRecent menus have featured oysters from Connecticut\, Rhode Island\, Maine and Atlantic Canada\, giving diners an opportunity to taste how dramatically oysters can change from one growing area to another. \nThat difference has its own name: merroir. \nIt’s the marine equivalent of terroir in wine. Water temperature\, salinity\, currents\, nutrients and the characteristics of an oyster’s growing area can all influence its flavor. \nA Connecticut oyster can taste quite different from one grown in Maine or New Brunswick even though they’re the same species. \nLa Plage serves its oysters with mignonette and mezcal cocktail sauce\, allowing guests to keep things traditional or add another layer of flavor. \nThe regular menu also makes clear just how central oysters are to the kitchen. \nThere’s La Plage Oyster Chowder\, combining oysters with oyster mushrooms\, preserved lemon and black pepper-fennel crackers. \nThe Shells Get Another Life\nThere’s another piece of La Plage’s oyster program that diners don’t see on the plate. \nThe restaurant has partnered with Collective Oyster Recycling & Restoration\, or CORR\, an organization working to return discarded oyster shells to the marine environment. \nThat matters because an empty oyster shell isn’t necessarily waste. \nYoung oysters need hard surfaces on which to attach and grow\, and old oyster shells provide some of the best substrate for establishing and rebuilding oyster reefs. \nThose reefs can become habitat for other marine species\, help stabilize shorelines and support oysters doing what oysters naturally do: filtering water. \nInstead of sending used shells into the trash stream\, oyster-shell recycling programs collect\, cure and eventually return them to coastal waters where they can become part of another generation of oyster habitat. \nIt creates a particularly appropriate cycle for a restaurant sitting beside the Mystic River. \nLa Plage Was Designed Around the Coast\nLa Plage is the signature restaurant at Delamar Mystic\, the waterfront hotel that opened beside Mystic Seaport Museum in 2025. \nExecutive Chef Frédéric Kieffer and Hicham Amaaou developed the restaurant as a coastal dining concept built around seafood\, seasonal ingredients and shoreline hospitality. \nThe culinary approach mixes New England ingredients with European influences\, particularly French and Portuguese traditions. \nThat Portuguese connection isn’t accidental. \nPortuguese immigrants became deeply intertwined with southeastern New England’s fishing and maritime communities\, and La Plage incorporated some of those flavors into a contemporary coastal menu. \nOne of the clearest examples is caldeirada\, a Portuguese-style seafood stew. La Plage’s version has included cod\, monkfish\, scallops\, shrimp and mussels in a tomato-saffron broth with potatoes. \nElsewhere on the menu\, the restaurant has served Mediterranean octopus\, lobster rolls\, fish and chips\, salmon and other seafood preparations alongside its raw bar. \nDinner Comes With a Mystic River View\nThen there’s the location. \nLa Plage occupies the river side of Delamar Mystic at 105 Greenmanville Avenue\, just north of the Mystic River Bascule Bridge and beside Mystic Seaport Museum. \nLarge windows and an outdoor veranda look directly onto the Mystic River. \nDuring the warmer part of the Oysters & Bubbles run\, guests may be able to take advantage of outdoor dining and watch boats moving along the river. \nAs autumn turns toward winter\, the experience shifts indoors. \nThe restaurant was designed with a beach-chic coastal aesthetic\, using natural textures and subdued colors rather than attempting to recreate a traditional New England seafood shack. \nThe result is intentionally more polished\, but the view outside is unmistakably Mystic. \nFrom September Oysters to New Year’s Eve\nThe Sept. 24 edition isn’t a one-night event. \nThe Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce calendar currently lists Oysters & Bubbles every Thursday through Dec. 31\, with each edition running from 5 to 9 p.m. \nThat means the series stretches across three very different seasons on the Mystic River. \nIt begins while September evenings can still be comfortable enough for waterfront dining\, moves through the darker evenings of October and November and currently finishes on New Year’s Eve. \nLa Plage’s own website describes Oysters & Bubbles as one of its weekly specials but does not publish an official final date. Dec. 31 is therefore the final date currently scheduled on the Chamber calendar rather than a confirmed permanent end to the promotion. \nAnd there may be no more appropriate recurring special for a restaurant built around Mystic’s waterfront. \nOysters come from the coast. Sparkling wine has been paired with them for generations. Empty shells can go back into restoration work that supports future oyster habitat. \nAt La Plage\, the whole thing happens while looking out at the river. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Oysters & Bubbles Thursdays at La Plage\nDates: Thursdays\, Sept. 24 through at least Dec. 31\, 2026\nTime: 5–9 p.m.\nLocation: La Plage Restaurant & Oyster Bar at Delamar Mystic\nAddress: 105 Greenmanville Ave.\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nRestaurant: Waterfront coastal restaurant and oyster bar\nSpecial: Oysters & Bubbles Thursday promotion\nOysters: La Plage features a rotating selection of oysters\, including Northeast varieties\nRegular Raw Bar Accompaniments: Mignonette and mezcal cocktail sauce\nParking: Public parking is available across the street at 112 Greenmanville Ave.\nAccessibility: Wheelchair accessible\nReservations: Reservations are available and recommended\nPhone: 860-743-4545 \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/oysters-bubbles-turns-thursdays-into-a-waterfront-tradition-at-la-plage-mystic-2/
LOCATION:La Plage Mystic\, 105 Greenmanville Ave\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:La Plage Mystic
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Oysters-and-Bubbles-Turns-Thursdays-Into-a-Waterfront-Tradition-at-La-Plage-Mystic.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261008T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261008T213000
DTSTAMP:20261005T195459Z
CREATED:20261005T195458Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T195459Z
UID:10008497-1791482400-1791495000@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:$25 Girl Dinner Turns Thursday Night Into a Three-Course Deal at Favorites Bistro Bar
DESCRIPTION:$25 Girl Dinner Turns Thursday Night Into a Three-Course Deal at Favorites Bistro Bar Sept. 24\, offering a choice of appetizer\, entrée\, and cocktail for roughly the price of a single dinner entrée at many restaurants. \nAnd despite the name\, this isn’t a women-only event. \nFavorites describes its weekly Girl Dinner as a night for girlfriends\, couples\, families or anyone simply looking for dinner out. The event is open to the public\, casual\, and requires no special admission beyond the $25 dinner. \nThe real attraction is what that $25 buys. \nGuests choose one of five appetizers\, one of three entrées\, and one drink\, including wine\, a mimosa\, or the evening’s featured house cocktail. \nFirst\, Pick an Appetizer\nThe opening course has considerably more choice than a typical prix fixe promotion. \nGuests can choose a house garden salad with fresh greens\, tomatoes\, cucumbers\, and house dressing; steamed mussels simmered in a rich garlic tomato sauce; pan-seared dumplings filled with shrimp or jerk pork and served with a house dipping sauce; crispy wings tossed in a signature sauce; or loaded fries topped with crispy fries\, bacon and Parmesan cheese. \nThen comes the entrée. \nThe Signature Rasta Pasta combines a creamy\, spicy sauce with onions and bell peppers\, a dish that fits particularly well with Favorites’ Caribbean identity. \nThere’s also Honey Mustard Salmon\, with pan-seared glazed salmon served over garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables\, or a Garden Stir-Fry Veggies option built around fresh vegetables and greens. \nThen There’s the Cocktail\nThe $25 package also includes one drink. \nGuests choose between the featured house cocktail\, a glass of red\, white or rosé wine\, or a mimosa. \nThat makes the pricing stand out when compared with Favorites’ regular dinner menu. \nThe restaurant currently lists its Rasta Pasta at $18 and salmon at $27 before adding an appetizer or drink. Regular appetizers include $12 honey jerk wings and $15 mussels\, while cocktails and wine are normally purchased separately. \nGirl Dinner essentially bundles the whole evening into a single price. \nFavorites Is More Haitian Than the Word “Bistro” Suggests\nThe restaurant itself is worth knowing because the name doesn’t reveal much about what’s happening in the kitchen. \nFavorites Bistro Bar is a Black-owned restaurant run by Majan and Ederjson Pierre\, and its food draws heavily from Haitian and Caribbean cooking. \nMajan Pierre has described what Favorites does as Haitian street food\, bringing flavors and dishes associated with Haiti into a contemporary downtown restaurant and cocktail-bar setting. \nThat influence shows up throughout the regular menu. \nThere are oxtail rangoons filled with braised oxtail and ricotta\, jerk chicken\, sweet plantains\, black beans and rice\, honey jerk wings\, Rasta Pasta and dishes seasoned with epis\, the aromatic seasoning base fundamental to Haitian cooking. \nFavorites also uses pikliz\, Haiti’s sharply flavored pickled vegetable condiment\, alongside several dishes. \nThe result isn’t a restaurant attempting to reproduce a traditional Haitian menu from beginning to end. Instead\, Caribbean ingredients and techniques move freely into familiar American restaurant formats. \nAn oxtail becomes the filling for a rangoon. Jerk flavors appear in chicken wings and sandwiches. Caribbean seasoning meets pasta\, burgers\, tacos and brunch dishes. \nThat crossover is part of the restaurant’s identity. \nA Restaurant Entering Its Fourth Year\nFavorites is still relatively young. \nThe restaurant opened on Bank Street in 2023\, and this spring celebrated its third anniversary with something of a second beginning. \nIn April\, the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut and Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting marking Favorites’ grand reopening and expansion into lunch service. \nThe restaurant had evolved beyond its original dinner operation\, adding daytime hours and updating its menu while retaining the Caribbean flavors around which it was built. \nToday\, lunch brings dishes such as jerk pork sliders\, orange chicken tacos\, short rib melts\, chicken and waffles and Rasta Pasta. \nDinner moves toward larger plates\, including oxtail with rice\, black beans and sweet plantains; jerk chicken; braised short ribs; steak frites; salmon; and tomato shrimp pasta. \nSunday has developed an identity of its own with brunch\, including chicken and waffles and crème brûlée French toast. \n“Girl Dinner” Has Changed Quite a Bit\nThere’s also a little cultural joke hiding behind the name of Thursday’s promotion. \n“Girl dinner” exploded as a social-media phrase in 2023\, originally describing the kind of improvised meal someone might assemble when cooking an actual dinner felt unnecessary: cheese\, crackers\, fruit\, bread\, leftovers or whatever else happened to be available. \nIt was less a recipe than permission to call a collection of snacks dinner. \nRestaurants eventually began borrowing the phrase for specials aimed at turning the idea into a night out. \nFavorites has taken that transformation nearly to its logical extreme. \nThere aren’t any crackers standing in for dinner here. \nFor $25\, the restaurant’s version involves an appetizer\, a plated entrée and a cocktail. \nAnd although the name survived the transition\, Favorites makes a point of saying everyone is invited. \nThursday Night on Bank Street\nGirl Dinner begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at Favorites Bistro Bar at 90 Bank Street in downtown New London. \nThe promotion isn’t limited to Sept. 24. Favorites has scheduled it as a recurring Thursday event into the fall\, making this week’s dinner part of an ongoing series rather than a one-night special. \nThe restaurant describes the atmosphere as relaxed and encourages people to come with friends\, partners or family\, or simply come on their own. \nThat may ultimately be the smartest part of the promotion. \nAt a time when dinner and a cocktail can quickly turn into a considerably more expensive night out\, Favorites has made the offer remarkably easy to understand: \nPick an appetizer. \nPick an entrée. \nPick a drink. \nPay $25. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Girl Dinner on Thursdays\nDate: Thursday\, Sept. 24\, 2026\nStarts: 6 p.m.\nLocation: Favorites Bistro Bar\nAddress: 90 Bank Street\, New London\, CT 06320\nPrice: $25\nIncludes: One appetizer\, one entrée and one craft cocktail\, glass of wine or mimosa\nAppetizer Choices: House Garden Salad\, Steamed Mussels\, Pan-Seared Dumplings\, Crispy Wings or Loaded Fries\nEntrée Choices: Signature Rasta Pasta\, Honey Mustard Salmon or Garden Stir-Fry Veggies\nDrink Choices: Featured house cocktail\, glass of red/white/rosé wine or mimosa\nWho Can Attend: Open to the public; despite the “Girl Dinner” name\, everyone is welcome\nDress: Casual\nReservations: The event listing says guests may simply show up.\nPhone: 860-446-6188 \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/25-girl-dinner-turns-thursday-night-into-a-three-course-deal-at-favorites-bistro-bar-3/
LOCATION:Favorites Bistro Bar\, 90 B Bank Street\, New London\, CT\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:Favorites Bistro Bar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/25-Dollar-Girl-Dinner-Turns-Thursday-Night-Into-a-Three-Course-Deal-at-Favorites-Bistro-Bar.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T170000
DTSTAMP:20261005T202114Z
CREATED:20261005T202113Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T202114Z
UID:10008468-1791709200-1791738000@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Clark Farms Fall Festival Celebrates 250 Years of Rhode Island Farming
DESCRIPTION:Clark Farms Fall Festival Celebrates 250 Years of Rhode Island Farming with a corn maze devoted to the state’s agricultural history\, plus hayrides\, zip lines\, farm animals\, live music\, food\, and a full farm park in Matunuck\, 25 miles from Mystic. \nThe festival is underway for the fall season at Clark Farms\, where the 2026 theme connects one of New England’s quintessential autumn traditions to Rhode Island’s 250th anniversary. \nThis year’s corn maze is “250 Years of Farming in Rhode Island\,” and the farm uses the attraction to explore how agriculture has changed throughout the state’s history. The maze and farm park are open during the week\, but weekends expand into the full Fall Festival experience with additional attractions\, food\, and entertainment. \nMore Than a Corn Maze\nMaking it through the maze is only part of the day. \nAdmission also opens up a collection of farm attractions including pedal-powered go-karts\, a petting zoo\, corn pit\, straw maze\, giant Mountain Slide\, farm basketball and a Western Town shooting gallery. \nThen there’s the corn cannon\, which gives visitors a chance to launch ears of corn across the farm. \nWeekend festival days add zip lines\, food\, performances and live music\, along with one of the more traditional fall experiences: a hayride through the surrounding Matunuck countryside. Clark Farms says its newer hayride is wheelchair accessible. \nThe farm’s butterfly house is also expected to remain open through late September\, while pumpkins and fall decorations are appearing throughout the property. Gem mining is available for an additional charge. \nCelebrating Rhode Island’s Farming Story\nThe 2026 theme is especially appropriate for a farm whose own history began with vegetables. \nClark Farms was established in South Kingstown in 1989 as a vegetable farm. Over the decades it expanded into plants\, nursery operations and landscape design\, eventually adding its larger Matunuck location in 2008. \nToday\, the business operates both as a working garden center and landscaping operation and as a seasonal destination\, bringing visitors onto the property for events including its summer sunflower displays and annual Fall Festival. \nFor this year’s maze\, Clark Farms is looking farther back than its own history. The attraction showcases the evolution of Rhode Island agriculture across 250 years\, turning a trip through the corn into a little state history along the way. \nFood\, Music and This Weekend’s Schedule\nClark Farms runs its own farm canteen during the festival\, with food that includes fresh-cut fries made with Matunuck-grown red potatoes\, hot dogs\, doughboys and corn dogs. Fresh hot donuts are also available on busy weekends. \nFor the weekend of Sept. 19–20\, the farm has announced additional food and entertainment. \nSaturday\, Sept. 19\nDel’s Frozen Lemonade — 11 a.m.–4 p.m. \nSunday\, Sept. 20\nDrink Coffee — 9 a.m.–2 p.m.\nPot Cellar — Live music\, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.\nCalifornia Taco food truck — 11 a.m.–3 p.m.\nDel’s Frozen Lemonade — 11 a.m.–4 p.m. \nSaturday also marks the deadline for Clark Farms’ new Scarecrow Competition. The contest has been accepting entries throughout September\, with a $500 Clark Farms gift card going to the winner. \nWeekends Bring the Full Festival\nVisitors can tackle the corn maze and explore the farm park throughout the week\, but there’s an important distinction between a weekday visit and the weekend Fall Festival. \nWeekend admission is when Clark Farms adds attractions such as the hayride\, zip lines\, expanded food offerings\, performances and live music. \nWeekend Fall Festival admission is $20 per person\, with children age 2 and younger admitted free. Weekday admission to the corn maze and farm park is $15 per person. \nTickets can be purchased at the farm\, although Clark Farms recommends buying them online in advance to avoid the in-person ticket line. \nSturdy shoes aren’t a bad idea either. This is a real cornfield rather than a paved attraction\, and paths can get muddy after rain. \nDogs are permitted in some of Clark Farms’ shopping areas but are not allowed inside the farm park or Fall Festival area because of the animals. Service animals are permitted. \nFrom a corn maze tracing 250 years of Rhode Island agriculture to a hayride through present-day Matunuck farmland\, this year’s Fall Festival puts a little history behind the pumpkins\, cider donuts and traditional fall fun. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Clark Farms Fall Festival\nSeason: Sept. 19–Nov. 1\, 2026\nLocation: Clark Farms\nAddress: 2984 Commodore Perry Highway\, Matunuck\, RI 02879\n2026 Theme: 250 Years of Farming in Rhode Island\nWeekend Admission: $20 per person; children 2 and younger free\nWeekday Admission: $15 per person\nTickets: Available online or at the farm; advance online purchase is recommended\nIncluded Attractions: Corn maze\, petting zoo\, corn pit\, straw maze\, Mountain Slide\, pedal go-karts\, basketball\, Western Town shooting gallery\, corn cannon and other farm activities. (Most attractions are during Fall Fest on Sat & Sun\, not during the week)\nWeekend Extras: Hayrides\, zip lines\, food\, performances and live music\nPets: Dogs are not permitted in the farm park/Fall Festival area; service animals are permitted\nWhat to Wear: Sturdy footwear is recommended\, particularly after rain \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/clark-farms-fall-festival-celebrates-250-years-of-rhode-island-farming-3/
LOCATION:Clark Farms\, 2984 Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry Memorial Hwy\, Matunuck\, RI\, 02879\, United States
CATEGORIES:Clark Farms
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Clark-Farms-Fall-Festival-Celebrates-250-Years-of-Rhode-Island-Farming.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T180000
DTSTAMP:20261005T203120Z
CREATED:20261005T201930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T203120Z
UID:10007343-1791709200-1791741600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:B.F. Clyde’s Cider Mill 2026: Complete Guide
DESCRIPTION:B.F. Clyde’s Cider Mill is now open for the 2026 season\, beginning another fall of fresh-pressed sweet cider\, cider donuts\, traditional hard cider\, apple wine and one of the most unusual pieces of working history in Connecticut. \nThe family-owned Old Mystic landmark opened for the season September 1 and is currently scheduled to operate seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 129 North Stonington Road. \nBut calling Clyde’s a cider shop doesn’t quite explain why generations of families make a trip here every fall. \nThe mill has been family-owned since 1881. Fourth\, fifth and sixth generations of the family still work in the business. Apples are still crushed and pressed using historic machinery powered by steam. Visitors can watch the machinery operate\, descend into the cellar for traditional hard cider tastings\, sample apple wines in a converted grist mill and leave with a bag of cider donuts. \nClyde’s calls itself the oldest steam-powered cider mill in the United States. \nMore precisely\, it is the last operating steam-powered cider mill in the country\, according to the mill\, and its historic cider-making machinery has been recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. \nIt isn’t a reproduction of an old cider mill. \nIt’s the real thing. \nA Mystic Fall Tradition Since 1881\nThe story begins with Benjamin F. Clyde. \nIn 1881\, Clyde began producing cider from apples he had pressed at other local mills. He eventually rented a press before purchasing his own mill in 1897. \nThe equipment that followed would become the heart of the operation visitors still come to see. \nClyde purchased a screw press manufactured by Boomer & Boschert of Syracuse\, New York. The company also supplied the apple grater\, elevator and cider pump\, along with plans for the mill building. \nThe machinery was installed in 1898. \nAt the time\, cider mills were hardly unusual in rural America. \nThey served much the same role for apple growers that grist mills did for farmers growing grain. Orchards could bring surplus apples to a centrally located mill\, where the fruit could be processed and pressed into juice. Some of that juice could then be fermented into hard cider. \nMost of those community mills disappeared. \nClyde’s didn’t. \nThe Steam-Powered Mill Is Still Working\nThat’s what makes a visit different from touring a preserved historic building. \nThe machinery still has a job. \nApples enter the cider-making system and are elevated to a grinder\, where they’re reduced to pulp. That pulp is prepared for pressing\, and the historic screw press applies the tremendous pressure needed to extract the juice. \nThe technology was impressive for its era. \nAccording to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers\, the all-steel screw press could apply pressure at three speeds and represented one of the last generations of screw presses before hydraulic presses became widespread during the 20th century. \nASME designated B.F. Clyde’s Cider Mill a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1994\, recognizing the machinery as a rare survivor of an industry that was once common throughout America’s apple-growing regions. \nMore than a century after the equipment was installed\, Clyde’s still uses the mill to make cider. \nWhen Can You Watch Clyde’s Press Cider?\nVisitors don’t have to settle for looking at the machinery. \nClyde’s runs it during the season. \nThe mill’s typical pressing schedule is: \nTuesday and Thursday: 10 a.m.–noon\nSaturday and Sunday: 10 a.m.–noon \nThe schedule can vary because Clyde’s presses according to production needs\, so the machinery isn’t guaranteed to be running continuously throughout those periods. \nEven when the press isn’t operating\, visitors are welcome to look inside the historic press building. \nFor anyone specifically interested in seeing the steam-powered machinery at work\, a pressing morning is the best time to plan a visit. \nHow Clyde’s Makes Sweet Cider\nFresh sweet cider is the product that started everything. \nClyde’s purchases its apples from small orchards rather than operating a pick-your-own orchard of its own. The apples are processed at the mill and pressed into cider using the historic equipment. \nThe finished sweet cider is flash pasteurized on the property. \nVisitors can buy cider to take home or drink it while visiting\, and seasonal cider drinks have become part of the experience alongside the mill’s baked goods. \nThat combination has helped turn what was originally a working agricultural business into a fall destination. \nYou can come to learn how a 19th-century cider press works. \nYou can also come because you want cider and a donut. \nNeither is the wrong reason. \nAbout Those Clyde’s Cider Donuts\nFor plenty of visitors\, the steam engine has competition. \nClyde’s cider donuts have become almost as closely associated with the mill as the cider itself. \nThe store sells its well-known cider donuts along with other baked goods and seasonal treats. The selection can vary\, but the broader shop also carries jarred products\, honey from local beekeepers\, candied apples made by the family and other locally produced goods. \nIt’s part bakery\, part country store and part historic attraction. \nAnd on a busy fall weekend\, the line is evidence that plenty of people know exactly what they came for. \nThen There Is the Cider Downstairs\nThe word “cider” gets considerably more complicated at Clyde’s. \nSweet cider is only part of the story. \nClyde’s also makes traditional hard cider using a process very different from the sweeter\, carbonated canned ciders that have become common in supermarkets and bars. \nThe hard cider begins with apple juice and ferments before aging in oak whiskey barrels. \nThe process from juice to finished hard cider typically takes about a year. \nAfter fermentation and aging\, the hard cider receives relatively little filtration before being sold. That preserves more of the raw\, oaky character produced by the barrel. \nThe result is considerably stronger than many commercial hard ciders. \nClyde’s hard ciders and apple wines generally contain 12 to 14 percent alcohol. \nHard Cider vs. Apple Wine: What’s the Difference?\nThis is one of the more interesting parts of Clyde’s operation because the two products begin in essentially the same place. \nBoth the hard cider and apple wine start as fermented apple juice aged in oak whiskey barrels. \nWhat happens afterward separates them. \nClyde’s hard cider is only lightly filtered to remove sediment. That leaves it with a bolder flavor\, more pronounced oak character and more bite. \nThe apple wine receives considerably more filtration. \nThat additional processing produces a smoother\, somewhat sweeter product that is also shelf stable before opening. \nSo someone expecting Clyde’s hard cider to taste like a modern canned hard cider may be surprised. \nThis is closer to an older cider-making tradition. \nWhat’s in the Hard Cider Cellar?\nThe hard cider cellar sits underneath the press building. \nThat’s where visitors can taste Clyde’s traditional hard ciders and where the product has been made for generations. \nAvailability changes throughout the season\, but Clyde’s 2026 lineup includes several recurring varieties. \nThe Original is the starting point. It’s dry\, without added fruit flavors competing with the oak character of the barrel. \nLucky Lion is also dry and crisp\, with a character Clyde’s says some drinkers compare to Scotch. \nBlackout goes even further in that direction. It’s Clyde’s most popular hard cider and wine flavor\, with strong oak notes that the mill describes as almost reminiscent of whiskey. \nThen things get fruitier. \nBoomerang combines apple and cranberry for a tart\, sweeter cider. \nGoodfella adds blackberry and lands on the sweeter end of the lineup. \nYellow Jacket combines apple and orange\, producing some sweetness with a citrus bite. \nCherry Bomb adds another fruit-driven option. \nBecause Clyde’s rotates its hard ciders\, individual varieties can change during the season. \nThe Apple Wine List Goes Much Further\nThe wine side of the operation offers even more variety. \nClyde’s currently lists 14 apple wines\, ranging from dry expressions of apple to much sweeter fruit combinations. \nApple Wine is the driest of the wine lineup. \nSpiced Apple uses mulling spices for a distinctly fall-oriented version. \nSpider Cider combines sweetness with pumpkin spices and can be warmed or used in a hot toddy. \nStrawberry Bliss is the sweetest wine in the lineup\, combining apple and strawberry. \nBlueberry Spinner combines apple and blueberry. \nApple Raspberry leans sweet but tart. \nCider House Blend combines apple\, orange and cranberry. \nSeveral of the hard cider varieties\, including Original\, Lucky Lion\, Blackout\, Boomerang\, Goodfella and Yellow Jacket\, are also produced as wines. \nThe distinction comes back to filtration. \nSame roots. \nDifferent finish. \nYes\, You Can Taste Them for Free\nClyde’s offers separate hard cider and wine tastings throughout its season. \nAnd the tastings are free. \nNo purchase is required and no reservation is necessary. \nVisitors can sample up to four hard ciders and up to four wines at their respective tasting locations. \nHard cider tastings take place in the cellar beneath the press building. \nWine tastings are held in the tasting room\, which has its own connection to the property’s history: the building is a converted grist mill once used to produce johnnycake meal. \nTastings are first-come\, first-served. \nCurrent tasting hours are: \nMonday–Saturday: 9 a.m.–6 p.m.\nSunday: 10 a.m.–6 p.m. \nEveryone participating in a tasting must show a valid ID\, regardless of age or appearance. Clyde’s does not accept expired IDs or photographs of identification. \nConnecticut alcohol rules also mean Clyde’s cannot sell its hard cider or wine before 10 a.m. on Sundays. \nA Few Clyde’s Flavors to Know Before You Taste\nIf you don’t know where to start\, the tasting bottles are generally arranged from driest to sweetest\, and the staff can help narrow the choices. \nFor something dry: Original or Apple Wine. \nFor strong oak character: Blackout. \nFor dry and crisp: Lucky Lion. \nFor tart cranberry: Boomerang. \nFor something sweeter: Goodfella. \nFor fall spice: Spiced Apple or Spider Cider. \nFor very sweet fruit: Strawberry Bliss or Blueberry Spinner. \nOne warning for anyone accustomed to mass-market hard cider: remember the alcohol content. \nAt 12 to 14 percent ABV\, Clyde’s hard cider is much closer to wine strength than a typical bottle or can of commercial cider. \nCan You Bring Back a Clyde’s Growler?\nYes. \nClyde’s sells 64-ounce growlers of hard cider and offers growler refills. \nThere are a couple of important rules. \nClyde’s refills growlers rather than exchanging them\, so customers should clean their growler before bringing it back. The mill can only refill glass growlers that have a stamped or imprinted 64-ounce measurement. \nWine cannot be used for growler fills. \nThe refill program is for hard cider. \nHard cider should also be kept cool after purchase. Clyde’s recommends refrigeration. \nThere’s More Than Cider\nThe tasting room also contains Clyde’s gift shop\, with merchandise and locally made products that can include handmade earrings\, postcards and art prints. \nElsewhere at the mill\, visitors can browse honey produced by local beekeepers\, jarred foods\, family-made candied apples\, baked goods and other seasonal products. \nThat makes it possible to spend considerably more time at Clyde’s than simply buying a gallon of cider and heading home. \nWatch the press. \nGet cider and donuts. \nExplore the store. \nGo downstairs for a hard cider tasting. \nVisit the wine tasting room. \nBrowse the gift shop. \nIt’s effectively several different experiences spread across the historic property. \nIs B.F. Clyde’s Cider Mill Good for Kids?\nYes. \nClyde’s welcomes children of all ages. \nThe working mill is also an opportunity to show kids a piece of machinery doing the job it was actually designed to do more than a century ago. \nThere is no alcohol involved in the regular sweet cider\, and the bakery\, cider and mill demonstration make Clyde’s an easy family fall stop. \nJust don’t confuse the two kinds of cider. \nThe traditional hard cider and apple wines are 12 to 14 percent alcohol and are strictly for adults 21 and older. \nCan You Pick Apples at Clyde’s?\nNo. \nThis is one of the most useful things to know before making the trip. \nB.F. Clyde’s is a cider mill\, not a pick-your-own orchard. \nThe mill purchases apples from small orchards and uses them to produce its cider. \nIf apple picking is part of your fall plans\, you’ll need to visit an orchard separately. \nCan You Bring a Dog?\nYes\, with restrictions. \nLeashed pets are permitted on the grounds. \nThey aren’t allowed inside the buildings or on the porch\, and visitors need to bring whatever they need to clean up after their pets. \nParking Can Be the Hardest Part of a Fall Visit\nClyde’s popularity comes with one predictable problem. \nIt gets busy. \nThe main parking lot can fill during peak periods\, particularly on fall weekends. \nClyde’s asks visitors to try the main lot first and to respect posted no-parking areas and neighboring properties if parking along nearby roads. \nAn auxiliary lot is available at 49 North Stonington Road. It’s approximately four-tenths of a mile from the mill\, so visitors using it should expect a walk. \nIf your schedule is flexible\, a weekday visit can make the entire experience easier. \nIf you’re coming specifically to see the press operate\, Tuesday or Thursday morning offers the combination of a weekday visit and a scheduled pressing window. \nClyde’s Isn’t a Museum\, and That’s the Point\nThere are plenty of places where historic machinery survives behind ropes. \nClyde’s is different. \nBenjamin Clyde started making cider in 1881. \nHe acquired his own mill in the 1890s. \nThe equipment installed in 1898 survived the arrival of hydraulic presses\, mass food production\, supermarkets\, interstate highways and more than a century of changes in how Americans buy their food. \nThe family survived with it. \nToday\, fourth\, fifth and sixth generations are involved in the operation. \nEvery September\, the doors open again. \nApples arrive. \nThe steam-powered machinery starts moving. \nFresh cider begins flowing. \nAnd people line up for cider donuts. \nThat’s why B.F. Clyde’s Cider Mill is more than another place to add to a Connecticut fall checklist. It’s a piece of New England’s agricultural and industrial history that never stopped doing its job. \n2026 Visitor Guide\nAttraction: B.F. Clyde’s Cider Mill\n2026 Season Opening: September 1\, 2026\nCurrent Hours: 9 a.m.–6 p.m.\, seven days a week\nLocation: 129 North Stonington Road\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nAdmission: Free\nChildren: Welcome\nPets: Leashed pets allowed on the grounds; not inside buildings or on the porch\nApple Picking: No\nSweet Cider: Available\nCider Donuts and Baked Goods: Available\nHard Cider: Available for adults 21+\nApple Wine: Available for adults 21+\nAlcohol Content: Hard cider and wine are generally 12–14% ABV\nTastings: Free; no reservation required\nHard Cider Tastings: Cellar beneath the press building\nWine Tastings: Tasting room\nTasting Hours: Monday–Saturday\, 9 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sunday\, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.\nTypical Pressing Schedule: Tuesday\, Thursday\, Saturday and Sunday\, 10 a.m.–noon\nParking: Main lot plus auxiliary parking at 49 North Stonington Road\nThanksgiving: Closed\nShipping: Not available\nPreorders/Call-Ahead Orders: Not available \nHard Cider Menu\nAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers History \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \n  \n  \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/b-f-clydes-cider-mill-2026-complete-guide-3/
LOCATION:B.F. Clyde’s Cider Mill\, 129 North Stonington Road\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:B.F. Clyde's Cider Mill
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/BF-Clydes-Cider-Mill-2026-Complete-Guide.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T113000
DTSTAMP:20261005T204329Z
CREATED:20261005T200020Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T204329Z
UID:10008533-1791712800-1791718200@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Kids Create Their Own Superheroes in Five-Week Comic Art Class at Mystic Museum of Art
DESCRIPTION:Kids Create Their Own Superheroes in Five-Week Comic Art Class at Mystic Museum of Art beginning Sunday\, Sept. 27\, taking young artists from the first pencil marks on a page through the process of creating a short comic book of their own. \nThe Sunday morning series is designed for ages 7 to 14 and taught by Mystic comic-book creator Brett Swanson\, who isn’t simply teaching children how to draw a superhero. \nOver five classes\, students work through many of the same steps used to turn an idea into a finished comic: drawing characters and objects\, developing a story\, designing pages\, adding ink\, creating shadows and texture and assembling those pieces into a visual narrative. \nBy the end\, the goal is for each student to have put an original superhero and comic-book story onto the page. \nAnd Swanson knows what it’s like to begin with nothing but a blank sheet of paper. \nFrom Mystic Mail Carrier to Comic-Book Creator\nSwanson has spent decades working in Mystic as a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier\, but he’s also spent much of his life drawing. \nHe told the Postal Service in a 2024 profile that he had wanted to become a comic-book artist since childhood and studied cartoon graphics in the late 1980s. \nRather than waiting for a major comics publisher to hand him a character\, he eventually created his own. \nSwanson publishes his own comics and has exhibited his work at shows\, fairs and comic conventions. He has also taken what he learned into schools\, libraries and museums\, teaching children how comic books are made. \nHis own series\, Power Kid\, follows fourth-grader Johnny Brooks\, who gains superpowers from a glowing rock and finds himself battling a decidedly kid-friendly assortment of threats including robots\, aliens\, dinosaurs and even demented vegetables. \nSwanson writes and illustrates his comics himself\, by hand. \nThat makes him particularly well suited to teaching the entire process rather than one isolated part of it. \nA Comic Book Is More Than a Drawing\nChildren who love superheroes often begin by drawing a character. \nCreating a comic requires the next step: figuring out what that character actually does. \nStudents in the Mystic Museum of Art course learn basic drawing techniques involving shapes\, objects and figures\, but the curriculum moves beyond illustration into layout\, design and storytelling. \nThat’s where comic art becomes its own visual language. \nA comic-book artist has to decide how large a panel should be\, what the reader sees first\, where a character stands\, how one image leads into another and how much of the story can be communicated without words. \nStudents will also explore inking\, along with techniques for creating shadows\, depth and texture. \nThose choices can transform a simple pencil sketch into something that begins to resemble the comics sitting on a bookstore shelf. \nOne Person Doing the Work of a Comic-Book Team\nSwanson’s independent approach also gives students a useful look at how many different jobs can hide inside a single comic. \nMainstream comics are frequently produced collaboratively\, with different people handling writing\, penciling\, inking\, coloring and lettering. \nSwanson does the process himself. \nHe has said a single comic can take him three or four months to complete\, beginning with a blank page and continuing through the writing and artwork required to finish the book. \nFor young artists accustomed to seeing the polished final product\, understanding that process can be just as valuable as learning how to draw it. \nA finished comic isn’t created with one perfect drawing. \nIt’s built through ideas\, rough sketches\, revisions\, page layouts\, mistakes\, corrections\, ink and a lot of decisions about how the story should unfold. \nFive Sundays to Build a Comic\nThe course begins Sept. 27 and continues on Sundays through Nov. 1\, with no class Oct. 4. \nEach session runs from 10 to 11:30 a.m. \nThat gives students time between classes to think about their characters and stories rather than attempting to cram the entire process into a single workshop. \nMystic Museum of Art has previously offered Swanson’s comic-art instruction in both multiweek classes and longer one-day workshops\, making comic creation a recurring part of its children’s studio programming. \nThe museum’s approach fits naturally with Swanson’s own philosophy about teaching comics. \nHe has described comic creation as a way for children not only to develop artistic skills\, but also to tell stories\, express ideas and develop the discipline needed to complete a project. \nAnd there’s a useful trick hidden inside all those superheroes\, villains and adventures. \nKids are writing. \nThey’re planning. \nThey’re sequencing ideas. \nThey’re solving visual problems. \nAnd they’re reading comics while learning how those comics work. \nThey just happen to be doing it while deciding whether their hero should battle a robot\, an alien or perhaps one of Swanson’s demented vegetables. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo register\, click the Event Registration link below. \nDetails\nClass: Comic Art: A Comic Book Making Class\nInstructor: Brett Swanson\nAges: 7–14\nDates: Sundays\, Sept. 27–Nov. 1\, 2026\nNo Class: Oct. 4\nNumber of Classes: Five\nTime: 10–11:30 a.m.\nLocation: Mystic Museum of Art\nAddress: 9 Water St.\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nMembers: $115\nNonmembers: $135\nSupplies: All supplies included with registration\nStudents Learn: Drawing fundamentals\, figures and objects\, comic-book layout and design\, visual storytelling\, inking\, shadows\, depth and texture\nFinal Project: Students develop and draw their own superhero and comic story\nContact: Mystic Museum of Art\, 860-536-7601 \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/kids-create-their-own-superheroes-in-five-week-comic-art-class-at-mystic-museum-of-art-2/
LOCATION:Mystic Museum of Art\, 9 Water Street\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Mystic Museum of Art
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Kids-Create-Their-Own-Superheroes-in-Five-Week-Comic-Art-Class-at-Mystic-Museum-of-Art.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T150000
DTSTAMP:20261005T204017Z
CREATED:20261005T200153Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T204017Z
UID:10007612-1791712800-1791730800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Brunch Sundays Brings Southern Comfort Food With a Haitian Island Twist
DESCRIPTION:Brunch Sundays – Southern Dishes With an Island Twist turns Sunday into a five-hour affair at Favorites Bistro Bar in downtown New London\, pairing brunch standards like chicken and waffles\, French toast\, and grits with the Haitian and Caribbean flavors that have become the restaurant’s calling card. \nThe weekly brunch runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Sunday at Favorites\, located at 90 Bank Street. \nAnd while plenty of restaurants serve brunch\, Favorites has a fairly compelling reason for adding the words “island twist.” \nOwner Majan Pierre grew up with Haitian cooking\, and the restaurant she and her husband Ederjson “EJ” Pierre created uses those flavors as a jumping-off point rather than treating them as rigid boundaries. \nThe result can put oxtail beside grits\, Haitian seasonings into familiar American comfort foods\, and a caramelized crème brûlée treatment onto French toast. \nIt’s brunch\, but not necessarily the brunch you already know. \nChicken and Waffles Gets the Favorites Treatment\nThe restaurant’s current Brunch Sundays promotion puts three dishes front and center: chicken and waffles\, oxtail and grits\, and crème brûlée French toast. \nChicken and waffles already lives comfortably at the intersection of sweet and savory. \nFavorites pushes further into that territory. \nThe restaurant’s broader approach incorporates the seasonings\, sauces and ingredients of Haitian and Caribbean cooking into recognizable American dishes rather than separating the menu into “traditional” and “island” sections. \nThat philosophy has helped chicken and waffles become one of the dishes frequently associated with Favorites since the restaurant began developing its brunch service. \nBut the oxtail and grits may be an even better example of what the restaurant is trying to do. \nOxtail and Grits Connects Two Comfort-Food Traditions\nOxtail has a long history in Caribbean cooking\, including Haitian cuisine\, where slow cooking turns a notoriously tough cut into something rich and deeply flavored. \nGrits come from a different culinary tradition but perform much the same job on the plate: warm\, uncomplicated comfort food capable of carrying an intensely flavored braise. \nPut them together and the combination makes immediate sense. \nFavorites has used oxtail elsewhere on its menu in inventive ways\, including oxtail rangoons. \nThat willingness to move ingredients between culinary traditions is central to the restaurant’s identity. \nPierre has described Favorites as Haitian street food\, but she’s also made clear that she doesn’t want the menu confined by that description. \nThe restaurant has served familiar dishes such as Caesar salad and pasta alongside Haitian staples and Caribbean-influenced creations. \nWhat connects them is often what happens in the kitchen. \nHaitian Flavor Is Built Into the Food\nOne of the building blocks is épis. \nThe Haitian seasoning base varies from kitchen to kitchen but generally combines fresh herbs\, peppers\, aromatics and spices into a concentrated mixture used to season meats\, seafood and other dishes. \nAt Favorites\, épis has been incorporated into dishes such as braised short ribs. \nThen there’s pikliz\, the sharp Haitian pickled vegetable condiment that can bring acidity\, crunch and heat to rich food. \nFavorites uses versions of it throughout its cooking. \nPierre told Connecticut food writer James Gribbon that the goal isn’t necessarily to make everything overwhelmingly hot. \nThe seasoning goes into the food from the beginning. \nThat’s a meaningful distinction. \nAdding a hot sauce to an otherwise conventional brunch dish creates heat. \nBuilding a dish around a different seasoning tradition changes its underlying flavor. \nFavorites is aiming for the second approach. \nThen There’s the Crème Brûlée French Toast\nIf oxtail and grits represents the savory side of the menu\, crème brûlée French toast heads in the opposite direction. \nThe basic idea borrows from the contrast that makes crème brûlée work: a rich\, soft interior against a caramelized exterior. \nApplied to French toast\, it turns one of brunch’s most familiar dishes into something closer to dessert. \nFavorites has served French toast in several forms\, and the dish has become one of the restaurant’s recognizable brunch offerings. \nIt’s also a good example of why “Southern dishes with an island twist” doesn’t tell the entire story. \nThere are Caribbean influences here\, certainly. \nBut there are also French influences\, Southern American comfort food and contemporary brunch culture colliding on the same menu. \nIn Haitian cooking\, that kind of overlap isn’t particularly strange. \nHaitian Cuisine Was Already a Fusion Cuisine\nHaiti’s food traditions developed from an unusually complicated history. \nWest African culinary traditions mixed with Indigenous Caribbean ingredients and techniques and European\, particularly French\, influences. \nThat history can still be seen in the language and food. \nFrench-derived culinary terms coexist with ingredients and cooking methods rooted elsewhere. \nSo a New London restaurant moving comfortably among Haitian food\, Southern comfort dishes and French-inspired brunch isn’t necessarily abandoning one tradition for another. \nIt’s continuing the mixing that created the cuisine in the first place. \nPierre has described Haitian food as difficult to reduce to a single definition because of those influences and because recipes can vary considerably between communities and households. \nHer own reference point is especially personal. \nBefore opening Favorites\, Pierre had never worked in a restaurant. \nShe learned food at home. \nMajan Pierre Went From Home Cooking to Restaurant Owner\nFavorites Bistro Bar opened in 2023\, making Pierre’s route into the restaurant business an unusual one. \nShe wasn’t a chef leaving someone else’s kitchen. \nShe wasn’t a longtime restaurant manager finally opening her own place. \nPierre told Gribbon that Favorites was her first restaurant job of any kind. \nHer culinary background came largely from watching her mother cook and from her own interest in food. \nShe and EJ Pierre nevertheless turned that home-cooking foundation into a downtown restaurant. \nBy April 2026\, Favorites was celebrating its third anniversary and a grand reopening\, along with an expansion of its lunch service. \nThe restaurant also brought Chef Bel into its culinary leadership. \nBrunch has become an increasingly important part of that evolution. \nSundays Have Become Their Own Thing\nFavorites now dedicates 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Sunday to brunch. \nThat’s not merely an hour or two added onto lunch service. \nIt’s the Sunday service. \nThe restaurant’s Brunch Sundays promotion makes that clear\, presenting the meal as a recurring weekly event rather than a one-off special. \nThat gives diners considerably more flexibility than a traditional late-morning brunch. \nCome at 10 and it’s breakfast. \nArrive at noon and you’re firmly in brunch territory. \nShow up at 2 and it can function as a late lunch. \nThe restaurant’s drinks follow the same leisurely approach to Sunday\, with brunch cocktails among the offerings. \nFavorites Has One of Downtown’s More Interesting Locations\nThe restaurant occupies space in the historic granite Roberts Building along Bank Street. \nIts location puts it in the middle of downtown New London’s restaurant\, arts and waterfront district. \nHygienic Art is nearby\, and the Thames River waterfront is only a short walk away. \nInside\, Favorites is bright during the day\, with large windows bringing natural light into a dining room and bar designed to feel more contemporary than rustic. \nThere’s also outdoor seating with views toward the harbor. \nThat gives Sunday brunch an easy extension into the rest of downtown. \nEat first\, then walk Bank Street\, head toward the waterfront or see what’s happening in the surrounding arts district. \nParking Is Easier on Sunday Than You Might Expect\nFor people who avoid downtown New London because they’re worried about parking\, Sunday has an advantage. \nFavorites lists Bank Street and State Street among the nearby free parking options. \nThe O’Neill-Tilley Municipal Lot and Water Street Garage provide additional paid parking nearby. \nAs always downtown\, availability depends on what else is happening that day. \nBut Favorites sits in a walkable part of New London\, so there’s little reason to circle the restaurant looking for the closest possible space if other downtown parking is available. \nA Sunday Brunch That Actually Tells You Something About the Restaurant\nChicken and waffles is everywhere now. \nFrench toast certainly isn’t difficult to find. \nNeither are eggs\, mimosas or grits. \nSo the interesting question isn’t whether Favorites serves brunch food. \nIt’s what happens when those dishes pass through this particular kitchen. \nA Haitian-American owner who learned from her mother’s cooking opened her first restaurant on Bank Street. \nShe began combining the food she knew with dishes that belonged to other traditions. \nThree years later\, that experiment has developed into a Sunday brunch where oxtail can land on grits and French toast can arrive dressed like crème brûlée. \nThat’s a much better reason to go to brunch than simply because it’s Sunday. \nDetails\nEvent: Brunch Sundays – Southern Dishes With an Island Twist\nDate: Sunday\, September 20\, 2026\nRecurring: Every Sunday\nTime: 10 a.m.–3 p.m.\nLocation: Favorites Bistro Bar\nAddress: 90 Bank Street\, New London\, CT 06320\nFeatured Brunch Dishes: Chicken and waffles\, oxtail and grits\, crème brûlée French toast\nCuisine: Southern comfort food with Haitian and Caribbean influences\nOwners: Majan and Ederjson “EJ” Pierre\nPhone: 860-446-6188\nParking: Free parking is available on Bank Street and State Street; paid options include the O’Neill-Tilley Municipal Lot and Water Street Garage\nReservations: Favorites accepts reservations; advance reservations may be useful for Sunday brunch\nAccessibility: Contact the restaurant directly for specific accessibility needs or seating accommodations. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \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/brunch-sundays-brings-southern-comfort-food-with-a-haitian-island-twist-to-new-london-3/
LOCATION:Favorites Bistro Bar\, 90 B Bank Street\, New London\, CT\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:Favorites Bistro Bar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Brunch-Sundays-Brings-Southern-Comfort-Food-With-a-Haitian-Island-Twist-to-New-London.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T130000
DTSTAMP:20261005T200432Z
CREATED:20261005T200431Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T200432Z
UID:10008656-1791714600-1791723600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Brunch with Bottomless Mimosas at the Jealous Monk
DESCRIPTION:Brunch with Bottomless Mimosas at the Jealous Monk every Sunday morning in Mystic\, when the European-style social hall better known for its 32 beer taps trades Saturday night for eggs\, home fries\, and a steady stream of sparkling orange cocktails. \nBrunch runs from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Sunday\, making this one of those rare CT Beacon events without a real ending date. It isn’t a holiday brunch\, monthly special or seasonal promotion. Jealous Monk and the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce continue to list it as a standing Sunday event. \nAnd the bottomless mimosas aren’t merely an occasional special attached to the meal. Olde Mistick Village itself calls Sunday brunch with bottomless mimosas a local favorite. \nThat’s reason enough to give this recurring Mystic tradition a proper place on the calendar. \nA Beer Hall Does Brunch Differently\nJealous Monk occupies Building 20 at Olde Mistick Village\, but step inside and the inspiration is considerably farther from Connecticut. \nThe restaurant was designed as a contemporary take on the European beer hall and social garden. There’s a huge barrel-vaulted ceiling overhead\, old-world paintings on the walls and long communal tables intended to make the room feel more social than a conventional restaurant dining room. \nIts regular identity revolves around beer. Jealous Monk maintains 32 rotating draft lines\, supplemented by bottles\, cans\, wine and cocktails\, while the kitchen leans into comfort food with Belgian frites\, house-made sausages\, burgers and dishes influenced by the beer-hall setting. \nSunday morning changes the equation. \nThe doors open at 10:30 a.m. — an hour earlier than on most weekdays — specifically as brunch begins. \nInstead of trying to turn itself into a delicate brunch cafe for a few hours\, Jealous Monk largely keeps its personality intact. It’s still a social hall\, only now the table might be covered with eggs and breakfast potatoes while the drinks are coming from a mimosa rather than a beer tap. \nMore Than a Mimosa Stop\nThe brunch menu is its own thing rather than the regular lunch menu with a couple of eggs added. \nJealous Monk’s current website confirms a dedicated Sunday brunch menu\, although the restaurant presents that menu as an image and individual dishes can change. Current online ordering also lists a breakfast sandwich made with bacon\, egg and American cheese on a toasted bun with home fries. \nPast published brunch menus show how Jealous Monk has traditionally approached the meal: familiar breakfast food mixed with the restaurant’s German and beer-hall influences. Dishes have included Belgian waffles\, steak and eggs\, breakfast burritos\, Benedicts\, short-rib hash\, biscuits and gravy and house-made sausage alongside items such as weisswurst\, schnitzel and bratwurst. \nBecause menus and prices change\, those older dishes shouldn’t be treated as a guarantee of what will be served on any particular Sunday. What hasn’t changed is the idea behind the brunch: hearty food rather than a stripped-down continental breakfast. \nThen there are the mimosas. \nThe restaurant and Olde Mistick Village both currently advertise bottomless mimosas as part of Sunday brunch. Neither current official page publishes the mimosa price online\, so that’s one detail worth checking with the restaurant before arriving rather than relying on an old menu or social-media post. \nA Social Hall Built for Lingering\nThe setting may be as important to this particular brunch as the menu. \nJealous Monk’s large communal tables were deliberately designed for conversation\, and the restaurant adds board games\, pinball and old-school video games to the indoor space. \nOutside is an expansive beer garden with picnic-table seating\, games and a distinctive fire-pit rock. \nThat gives Sunday brunch a different personality depending on the season. A cold-weather visit can mean settling beneath the barrel-vaulted ceiling with a group around one of the large tables. During warmer weather\, the garden makes considerably more sense for anyone inclined to turn brunch into a longer Sunday outing. \nIt’s also a brunch that doesn’t require everyone at the table to participate in the mimosa part. Jealous Monk is a full restaurant\, and its location in Olde Mistick Village makes the event workable for mixed groups spending the day together. \nBrunch in a Village That Wasn’t Supposed to Exist\nThere’s a bit of local history outside the restaurant doors. \nThe property beneath Olde Mistick Village was once farmland. Martin Olson purchased it in 1963 with plans to construct a conventional shopping mall\, only to be advised that the local population wasn’t large enough to support one. \nHis children\, twins Jerry and Joyce Olson\, eventually pursued something much stranger and more distinctive. \nConstruction began in 1972 on a shopping village modeled after a 1720s New England community\, complete with a meeting house\, town green\, duck pond\, gazebo and individually designed buildings. The walking paths and landscaping were deliberately planned\, and no two buildings were supposed to look exactly alike. \nOlde Mistick Village officially opened Sept. 11\, 1973\, with more than 400 people attending the dedication. \nMore than half a century later\, the experiment has grown into a walkable collection of more than 40 shops and eateries and one of Mystic’s busiest visitor destinations. \nThat makes the location particularly useful on a Sunday. \nBrunch doesn’t have to be the day’s entire plan. \nThe 1 p.m. Problem Solves Itself\nJealous Monk stops serving brunch at 1 p.m.\, but you’re already inside Olde Mistick Village. \nWalk the paths. Browse the independent shops. Circle the duck pond. Grab something sweet. Or cross the road and continue the day at Mystic Aquarium. \nThat’s arguably what makes this recurring event more useful than the original calendar description suggested. \nBottomless mimosas are the hook\, but the location turns brunch into the beginning of a Mystic Sunday rather than its destination and endpoint. \nFor locals\, it can become the kind of ritual that doesn’t require checking an events calendar at all. \nFor visitors\, it’s an easy answer to a more complicated question: what do we do Sunday morning before spending the rest of the day in Mystic? \nStart with brunch. \nThe mimosas can keep coming until 1. \nMore information and the current brunch menu are available at the Event Website link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Sunday Brunch with Bottomless Mimosas\nSchedule: Every Sunday\nTime: 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.\nVenue: Jealous Monk\, Building 20 at Olde Mistick Village\nAddress: 27 Coogan Blvd.\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nBrunch: Dedicated Sunday brunch menu with bottomless mimosas available\nBottomless Mimosa Price: Not currently published on Jealous Monk’s official website; check with the restaurant for current pricing and terms\nSetting: European-style social hall and beer garden with communal tables\, games and outdoor seating\nParking: Free parking is available throughout Olde Mistick Village\nRestaurant Sunday Hours: 10:30 a.m.–9 p.m.\nPhone: 860-536-6665\nChamber Event Contact: Park Hersant\, 646-647-9452\nEmail: operations@jmmystic.com \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/brunch-with-bottomless-mimosas-at-the-jealous-monk-2-3/
LOCATION:Jealous Monk\, 27 Coogan Blvd\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Jealous Monk
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Brunch-with-Bottomless-Mimosas-at-the-Jealous-Monk.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T210000
DTSTAMP:20261005T202615Z
CREATED:20261005T201752Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T202615Z
UID:10007576-1791714600-1791752400@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Oktoberfest at Jealous Monk Brings Bavarian Food\, Seasonal Beer and Live Music to Mystic
DESCRIPTION:Oktoberfest at Jealous Monk isn’t a one-day festival. Mystic’s European-style beer hall is turning much of fall into Oktoberfest\, beginning Saturday\, September 19 and continuing through Saturday\, October 24\, with a special German-inspired menu\, seasonal beers\, live entertainment\, and Oktoberfest competitions and activities. \nThe extended celebration is something Jealous Monk has been doing for years\, and the restaurant takes the inspiration more seriously than the lederhosen-and-pretzel graphics might suggest. \nJealous Monk says members of its team have made annual research trips to Munich during Oktoberfest\, bringing ideas from the world’s most famous beer festival back to Mystic. \nThey even use the German word that helps explain what they’re trying to recreate: Gemütlichkeit. \nThere isn’t a perfect English translation. It’s a combination of warmth\, friendliness\, comfort\, good cheer\, and the feeling of enjoying yourself in good company. \nIn other words\, it’s pretty much the reason beer halls have big tables. \nMore Than a Single Oktoberfest Party\nJealous Monk’s 2026 celebration begins September 19\, but don’t read that as the date of the entire event. \nThe restaurant’s announcement calls this an “extended” Oktoberfest season running September 19 through October 24. \nThroughout that period\, Jealous Monk plans a special seasonal food menu and Oktoberfest beers along with a changing schedule of musicians and other entertainment. \nContests are part of the celebration as well\, including the most recognizable American Oktoberfest test of endurance: stein hoisting. \nThe restaurant is still completing its detailed 2026 entertainment schedule and Oktoberfest menu\, so individual performers\, contest dates and this year’s complete food and beer lineup have not all been announced yet. \nThat’s worth knowing before making plans around a particular weekend. \nBut the larger celebration is already confirmed. \nJealous Monk Was Practically Built for This\nThere are plenty of restaurants that can put bratwurst on the menu for three weeks and call it Oktoberfest. \nJealous Monk has a bit of a head start. \nThe locally owned restaurant describes itself as Mystic’s only beer garden\, and its home in Olde Mistick Village was designed as a contemporary interpretation of a European beer hall. \nInside\, there’s a barrel-vaulted ceiling\, old-world artwork and long communal tables rather than a dining room filled exclusively with little two- and four-person islands. \nOutside is an expansive beer garden with picnic tables\, games and gathering spaces. \nThen there are the taps. \nJealous Monk maintains 32 rotating draft lines\, allowing the restaurant to shift a significant portion of its beer selection as seasonal Märzens\, Festbiers and other fall releases arrive. \nIts regular menu already leans European in places\, too. Belgian frites\, a Bavarian-style pretzel\, bratwurst and schnitzel live comfortably alongside burgers\, wings\, chowder and other American pub food. \nOktoberfest isn’t much of a costume change here. \nThe Food Gets More German for the Season\nThe complete 2026 Oktoberfest menu has not yet been published\, but previous Jealous Monk Oktoberfest menus give a much better indication of what “special menu” means here. \nLast year’s seasonal offerings included Schweinshaxe\, the German pork knuckle strongly associated with Bavarian cooking. \nJealous Monk prepared its version braised and served it with spätzle\, rotkohl and beer au jus. \nSpätzle are small\, soft egg noodles or dumplings common throughout southern Germany and neighboring parts of Central Europe. \nRotkohl is braised red cabbage\, usually cooked until tender with a balance of sweet and acidic flavors. \nAnother recent Oktoberfest dish was Brathendl\, Bavarian-style roast chicken\, served at Jealous Monk with rotkohl and mashed potatoes. \nThose dishes went considerably further into Bavarian cooking than simply putting mustard on a sausage. \nUntil the restaurant releases this year’s finished menu\, however\, those should be treated as examples from previous celebrations rather than promises for 2026. \nSome Oktoberfest Food Is Available Even Before Oktoberfest\nA few things don’t have to wait until September 19. \nJealous Monk’s regular menu currently includes its Big A Pretzel\, a large Bavarian-style pretzel served with spicy and sweet mustards\, with bier cheese available to add. \nThere’s also a Bavarian Bratwurst\, available traditionally with sauerkraut and spicy mustard or prepared panini-style with Swiss cheese. \nThe regular Chicken Schnitzel is a less traditional Jealous Monk interpretation: crispy breaded chicken with Swiss cheese\, grilled onions and peppers and chipotle aioli\, served with house-cut Belgian frites. \nThose staples give the regular menu a European foundation before the temporary Oktoberfest dishes arrive. \nThen Come the Oktoberfest Beers\nBeer is where an extended celebration makes particularly good sense. \nOktoberfest beer doesn’t describe just one modern style. \nFor much of the 20th century\, Americans came to associate Oktoberfest with Märzen\, an amber German lager with a malty character and clean finish. \nThe beer traditionally had a practical connection to the brewing calendar. Before refrigeration\, brewing during warm summer weather was difficult and potentially dangerous for the beer. Märzen\, meaning “March beer\,” could be brewed in March\, stored through the summer and consumed in autumn. \nModern Munich Oktoberfest has shifted toward Festbier\, generally paler\, lighter in body and extremely drinkable despite retaining enough malt character to stand up to festival food. \nOnly beer from Munich’s six traditional breweries can officially be served at the Oktoberfest in Munich: Augustiner\, Hacker-Pschorr\, Hofbräu\, Löwenbräu\, Paulaner and Spaten. \nJealous Monk’s 32 rotating taps give the Mystic restaurant considerable room to explore both imported German beer and American interpretations of Oktoberfest styles. \nThe exact 2026 seasonal tap list is still developing\, so anyone hunting for a particular brewery should check the current list closer to their visit. \nThe Real Oktoberfest Isn’t Actually in October\nJealous Monk’s September 19 start also lines up almost perfectly with Munich. \nThe 2026 Oktoberfest in Munich runs September 19 through October 4. \nThat often surprises people who understandably assume a festival named Oktoberfest should happen primarily in October. \nIt used to. \nThe original Oktoberfest was held in October 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. \nThe public celebration included horse racing and proved popular enough to return. \nOver time\, the festival grew and its schedule moved earlier to take advantage of September’s generally better weather and longer daylight. \nThe October name stayed. \nJealous Monk begins its Mystic celebration on the same Saturday that Munich opens its 2026 festival\, then keeps going for another three weeks after Munich has packed up the tents. \nA Royal Wedding Started All of This\nThat first celebration took place on fields outside Munich’s city gates. \nThe site became known as Theresienwiese\, or Therese’s Meadow\, in honor of the bride. Munich residents still commonly shorten the name of Oktoberfest itself to the Wiesn. \nWhat began as a royal wedding celebration evolved into an enormous annual festival of beer\, Bavarian food\, music\, rides\, costumes and communal drinking. \nToday’s Oktoberfest bears little resemblance in scale to the 1810 event. \nMillions of people attend during a typical year. \nThe enormous beer tents can accommodate thousands of guests apiece. \nTraditional Bavarian clothing\, particularly lederhosen and dirndls\, has become inseparable from the modern image of the festival. \nAnd the beer arrives by the liter. \nAbout That Stein-Hoisting Contest\nJealous Monk says contests will be part of the 2026 festivities\, with stein hoisting among the activities being promoted. \nThe rules vary by competition\, but the basic concept is wonderfully uncomplicated. \nTake a full beer stein. \nHold it straight out in front of you with one arm. \nDo not bend the elbow. \nDo not lower the arm. \nDo not spill it. \nWait for everyone else to regret entering. \nA full one-liter glass stein weighs roughly five pounds\, so what seems fairly easy for the first few seconds becomes progressively less pleasant. \nIt’s become a staple of American Oktoberfest celebrations\, combining German beer-hall imagery with the very American instinct to turn practically anything into a contest. \nLive Music Will Rotate Through the Celebration\nThe other major piece still being assembled is the entertainment calendar. \nJealous Monk says live musicians will perform throughout the extended Oktoberfest season\, rather than concentrating entertainment into a single opening-day party. \nThat follows the format the restaurant has used in previous years. Its 2024 Oktoberfest\, for example\, featured live music on several dates spread between late September and late October. \nThe restaurant’s September 12 announcement says it is currently putting the finishing touches on its 2026 list of musicians and will add specifics to its events calendar as they are finalized. \nSo this is an event worth checking more than once. \nSeptember 19 is the beginning\, not the whole story. \nWhy Jealous Monk Works as a Beer Hall\nOktoberfest also makes some of Jealous Monk’s design choices easier to understand. \nTraditional beer halls aren’t designed around privacy. \nThey’re designed around gathering. \nLong tables put strangers next to one another. Food is hearty. Beer comes in substantial quantities. Music and conversation create enough noise that nobody expects a hushed dining room. \nJealous Monk borrowed that social model for its Mystic restaurant. \nThe indoor hall includes large communal tables\, while the outdoor beer garden uses picnic-style seating. Board games\, pinball and old-school video games add to the idea that customers are supposed to stay for a while rather than simply eat and leave. \nThe restaurant’s full name says it plainly: \nJealous Monk Social Hall & Beer Garden. \nFor five weeks beginning September 19\, the “beer garden” part gets to take center stage. \nYou Don’t Have to Drink Beer\nDespite the name and the Oktoberfest theme\, Jealous Monk isn’t exclusively for beer drinkers. \nThe restaurant also maintains wine\, liquor and cocktail selections\, and its food menu includes burgers\, sandwiches\, salads\, seafood and vegetarian options alongside the more obvious beer-hall fare. \nIt’s also a restaurant rather than a ticketed beer festival. \nThe currently announced Oktoberfest season does not carry a general admission charge. Customers visit Jealous Monk normally and order food and drinks\, while special entertainment and activities occur throughout the run. \nThat makes this fundamentally different from the one-afternoon Oktoberfests where admission buys a tasting glass and a fixed number of pours. \nYou can go once. \nOr you can go back as the taps\, menu specials and entertainment change. \nFive Weeks Gives You Time to Do It Properly\nThat’s really the advantage of Jealous Monk’s approach. \nOktoberfest doesn’t have to be crammed into one Saturday afternoon. \nThe first visit might be for the seasonal menu. \nAnother could coincide with live music. \nA third might involve a Märzen you haven’t tried. \nAnd eventually someone is going to convince you that holding a five-pound glass at arm’s length sounds like fun. \nThe 2026 celebration opens September 19. \nBy the time it ends October 24\, Mystic will be deep into foliage\, Olde Mistick Village will have shifted from late-summer visitors toward its fall crowds\, and Jealous Monk will have spent more than a month doing what a beer garden was designed to do. \nGather people around a table. \nPour the beer. \nBring out the food. \nProst. \nDetails\nEvent: Oktoberfest at Jealous Monk\nDates: Saturday\, September 19 through Saturday\, October 24\, 2026\nVenue: Jealous Monk Social Hall & Beer Garden\nLocation: Olde Mistick Village\, Building 20\nAddress: 27 Coogan Boulevard\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nAdmission: No general admission charge announced; food and beverages purchased separately\nFood: Special Oktoberfest menu planned for the season; complete 2026 menu is still being finalized\nBeer: Seasonal Oktoberfest beers plus Jealous Monk’s rotating draft selection\nDrafts: 32 rotating taps\nEntertainment: Live musicians throughout the Oktoberfest run; individual performers and dates are still being announced\nActivities: Oktoberfest contests and activities\, including stein-hoisting festivities\nIndoor/Outdoor: Indoor social hall and outdoor beer garden\, weather permitting\nRegular Hours: Monday–Thursday\, 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m.; Friday–Saturday\, 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m.; Sunday\, 10:30 a.m.–9 p.m.\nPhone: 860-536-6665 \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/oktoberfest-at-jealous-monk-brings-five-weeks-of-bavarian-food-seasonal-beer-and-live-music-to-mystic-2/
LOCATION:Jealous Monk\, 27 Coogan Blvd\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Jealous Monk
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Oktoberfest-at-Jealous-Monk-Brings-Five-Weeks-of-Bavarian-Food-Seasonal-Beer-and-Live-Music-to-Mystic.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T180000
DTSTAMP:20261005T201549Z
CREATED:20261005T201549Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T201549Z
UID:10009244-1791716400-1791741600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Scarecrows Take Over Olde Mistick Village for the Month of October
DESCRIPTION:Scarecrows Take Over Olde Mistick Village for the Month of October as merchants throughout the Mystic shopping village create their own characters\, compete for visitor votes\, and turn the walk between shops into a month-long outdoor fall display. \nScarecrows in the Village runs Oct. 1–31\, giving visitors the entire month to wander the brick pathways and find the scarecrows stationed outside participating businesses. Rather than bringing in a collection of professionally made decorations\, Olde Mistick Village puts its own merchants behind the creations. \nThat makes this less a single scheduled event than a temporary transformation of the Village. \nThe Merchants Build the Scarecrows\nThe fun is seeing what individual businesses come up with. \nParticipating Olde Mistick Village merchants create their own scarecrow displays\, which can make the decorations an extension of the personality of the shops themselves. The Village’s photos from previous displays show just how loosely the word “scarecrow” can be interpreted\, with the traditional straw-stuffed figure serving more as a starting point than a rule. \nSome are elaborate. Some are funny. Some lean into Halloween. \nAnd visitors aren’t merely looking at them. \nThey’re judging them. \nFind Your Favorites and Vote\nThroughout October\, QR codes placed around Olde Mistick Village allow visitors to vote for their favorite scarecrows. \nThe 2026 competition includes three categories: \nBest in Crow is the overall crowd-pleaser. \nMost Representative rewards the scarecrow that best captures the identity or personality of its participating Village business. \nMost Seaworthy gives the contest an appropriately Mystic category\, inviting merchants to work the area’s maritime character into their displays. \nThe voting turns what could have been simple seasonal decorations into a scavenger-hunt-like walk. Seeing one or two scarecrows isn’t really the point. The fun comes from exploring the Village\, comparing them and deciding which deserves a vote. \nA Different Way to See Olde Mistick Village\nOlde Mistick Village was designed to feel less like a conventional shopping center and more like a small New England village. \nInstead of a single enclosed mall\, shops and restaurants occupy individual buildings connected by pedestrian paths\, with landscaping\, ponds and gathering areas breaking up the property. \nThat’s particularly well suited to an event like this. \nThere isn’t a tent to enter or a designated exhibition area. The scarecrows become part of the landscape\, appearing as visitors move among shops and restaurants. \nIt also means there is no particular starting time or required route. Someone can spend 20 minutes hunting for scarecrows or make them part of a longer afternoon shopping\, eating and exploring the Village. \nOne Piece of a Much Bigger October in Mystic\nScarecrows in the Village also serves as something of a monthlong backdrop for Olde Mistick Village’s other fall activities. \nThe displays remain in place through Halloween on Oct. 31\, while the Village hosts additional October programming\, including its Apple Festival Oct. 17–18 and Trick or Treat in the Village Oct. 31. \nThat means the experience will change depending on when you visit. Early in October\, the scarecrows are essentially the opening act for fall. By Halloween weekend\, they’re part of a Village fully committed to the season. \nThere is also something appealingly low-key about this one. \nThere are no tickets to buy\, no performance time to hit and no need to devote an entire afternoon to it. Families can turn voting into a game with the kids. Adults can look for their favorite while shopping. Visitors coming for another Village event can simply add the scarecrows to the day. \nAnd because the displays remain up for an entire month\, this is one fall tradition where missing a particular Saturday doesn’t mean missing the event. \nThe only deadline that matters is Halloween. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Scarecrows in the Village\nDates: Thursday\, Oct. 1–Saturday\, Oct. 31\, 2026\nLocation: Olde Mistick Village\nAddress: 27 Coogan Boulevard\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nAdmission: Free\nFormat: Monthlong outdoor scarecrow display created by participating Village merchants\nVoting: QR-code voting available throughout October\n2026 Categories: Best in Crow\, Most Representative and Most Seaworthy\nWho It’s For: All ages; particularly easy to combine with a family visit\, shopping or dining\nSchedule: Displays can be viewed during Village operating hours; individual businesses and restaurants may keep different hours\nRelated October Events: Apple Festival\, Oct. 17–18; Trick or Treat in the Village\, Oct. 31\nFinal Day: Halloween\, Oct. 31\nWeather: The scarecrows are displayed outdoors\, so dress for conditions \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/scarecrows-take-over-olde-mistick-village-for-the-month-of-october-2/
LOCATION:Olde Mistick Village\, 27 Coogan Blvd\, Mystic\, CT\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Olde Mistick Village
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Scarecrows-Take-Over-Olde-Mistick-Village-for-the-Month-of-October.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T210000
DTSTAMP:20261005T203449Z
CREATED:20261005T201350Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T203449Z
UID:10009188-1791738000-1791752400@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Pumpkin Passage Turns The Dinosaur Place Into a Halloween Playground
DESCRIPTION:Pumpkin Passage Turns The Dinosaur Place Into a Glowing Halloween Playground beginning Oct. 3\, when the dinosaurs stay up after dark\, and The Dinosaur Place in Montville transforms its prehistoric trails into a month-long Halloween world filled with glowing dinosaurs\, illuminated pumpkins\, mythical creatures\, live entertainers\, inflatables\, games\, and marshmallows around the fire. \nAnd despite all the ingredients that could make this terrifying — darkness\, enormous dinosaurs and Halloween — Pumpkin Passage is deliberately aimed at families with young children. \nThis is the eighth year for the annual event at Nature’s Art Village\, and rather than building a haunted attraction around jump scares and monsters\, the park uses its existing dinosaurs as the backdrop for a nighttime Halloween adventure kids can explore with their parents. \nThe result lands somewhere between a Halloween light walk\, an outdoor carnival\, and a visit to The Dinosaur Place after everybody forgot to tell the dinosaurs it was bedtime. \nWait Until the Sun Goes Down\nThe centerpiece is the illuminated trail. \nFamilies walk among glowing dinosaurs\, pumpkins and mythical creatures as Halloween lighting transforms the wooded attraction after dark. The Dinosaur Place is already home to more than 100 life-sized dinosaurs\, including animatronic creatures\, spread across its trails and attractions. Once daylight disappears\, those familiar prehistoric residents become part of the Halloween scenery. \nBut walking the trail is only part of the night. \nPumpkin Passage spreads activities throughout the grounds\, including the Jurassic Jungle bounce house\, a towering 20-foot Funhouse Super Slide\, an inflatable corn maze and other inflatables. \nThere are also lawn games and activities\, including inflatable axe throwing\, cornhole\, Connect 4 and Who’s Your Pumpkin. \nThen there are the pumpkins. \nAmong the more unusual attractions is an original performance by a family of singing animatronic pumpkins — which seems exactly like the sort of wonderfully odd Halloween creation children will either talk about for the rest of the month or insist on seeing again immediately. \nEvery Night Adds Live Entertainment\nPumpkin Passage isn’t exactly the same experience every night. \nThe Dinosaur Place is scheduling live entertainers throughout the run\, with the entertainment changing depending on the date. The lineup includes face painting and glitter tattoos\, balloon twisting\, a petting zoo\, DJs\, light performers\, stilt walkers and other specialty entertainment. \nThat means families planning around a particular performer should check the night’s entertainment schedule before choosing a date rather than assuming every attraction appears at every performance. \nThe regular attractions\, however\, give families plenty to do beyond the scheduled shows. \nOne of the simplest may also be one of the nicest on a cool October night: free marshmallow roasting around the fire pit\, including marshmallows and roasting sticks. S’mores kits\, hot apple cider and cocoa are available as extras. \nFood trucks rotate through Pumpkin Passage as well\, with different vendors scheduled during the month. The published lineup includes pizza\, barbecue\, burgers\, tacos\, Mexican street food\, ice cream\, shaved ice and other festival food. \nAnd because this is Halloween\, costumes are encouraged. \nHalloween for Kids Who Aren’t Looking to Be Terrified\nThe most important word in Pumpkin Passage may be friendly. \nThe event is specifically promoted as toddler- and kid-friendly. This isn’t the place to take a child who wants chainsaws\, blood\, actors leaping from behind trees and a terrifying haunted maze. \nIt’s almost the opposite. \nThe attraction uses the visual language of Halloween — darkness\, glowing pumpkins\, unusual creatures and dramatic lighting — without turning the night into a scare attraction. \nThat makes Pumpkin Passage an option for families whose children are excited about Halloween but aren’t ready for a traditional haunted house. \nIt also gives parents something considerably more substantial than walking around a parking lot collecting candy. Families can make an evening of it\, moving between the illuminated trail\, inflatables\, entertainment\, games\, food trucks and fire pit. \nAnd for a dinosaur-obsessed child\, there’s an obvious bonus: Halloween doesn’t replace the dinosaurs. \nIt joins them. \nThere Are 18 Chances to Go\nOpening night is Saturday\, Oct. 3\, but Pumpkin Passage continues throughout October and even spills into November. \nThe regular schedule includes Fridays\, Saturdays and Sundays beginning Oct. 3\, plus Columbus Day on Monday\, Oct. 12\, and three specially priced Thursday nights on Oct. 15\, 22 and 29. The final night is Sunday\, Nov. 1. \nPumpkin Passage begins at 5 p.m. each night. Friday and Saturday dates generally continue until 9 p.m.\, while Sundays\, the holiday Monday and specially scheduled Thursdays run until 8 p.m. \nOne caution when planning: some outside event calendars show slightly different times. The Dinosaur Place’s own current schedule says Pumpkin Passage begins at 5 p.m.\, so that’s the schedule we would use when planning a visit. \nThe Thursday nights are also less expensive than the regular weekend dates\, giving families some incentive to visit before Halloween weekend. \nOnline ticketing is required\, and reservations are strongly recommended because individual dates can sell out. \nFor families who already love The Dinosaur Place\, Pumpkin Passage offers something genuinely different from a daytime visit. And for children who want Halloween to feel magical rather than frightening\, glowing dinosaurs\, singing pumpkins\, bounce houses and marshmallows may be a pretty good place to start. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. To purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \nDetails\nEvent: 8th Annual Pumpkin Passage\nOpening Night: Saturday\, Oct. 3\, 2026\nFinal Night: Sunday\, Nov. 1\, 2026\nLocation: The Dinosaur Place at Nature’s Art Village\nAddress: 1650 Hartford-New London Turnpike\, Montville\, CT 06370\nRegular Dates: Fridays\, Saturdays and Sundays beginning Oct. 3\nAdditional Dates: Monday\, Oct. 12; Thursdays\, Oct. 15\, 22 and 29; Sunday\, Nov. 1\nStart Time: 5 p.m.\nFriday & Saturday Hours: Generally 5–9 p.m.\nSunday & Select Weeknight Hours: Generally 5–8 p.m.\nRegular Admission: Children ages 2–12\, $29; ages 13+\, $27; children under 2 free\nSpecial Thursday Pricing: Reduced admission applies Oct. 15\, 22 and 29; check current ticketing for final price before purchasing\nTickets: Online ticketing only; advance reservations strongly recommended\nIncluded: Illuminated Halloween trail\, glowing dinosaurs and pumpkins\, inflatables\, lawn games\, singing animatronic pumpkins\, marshmallow roasting\, photo opportunities and scheduled entertainment\nFood: Rotating food trucks; additional treats and drinks available for purchase\nCostumes: Encouraged\nAudience: Designed as a kid- and toddler-friendly Halloween event\nParking: Free\nWeather: Outdoor event; management may close attractions because of adverse weather. If Pumpkin Passage is forced to close because of rain or lightning at the scheduled visit time\, ticket holders may be offered a rain check to rebook.\nPhone: 860-443-4367 \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/pumpkin-passage-turns-the-dinosaur-place-into-a-glowing-halloween-playground-2/
LOCATION:The Dinosaur Place at Nature’s Art Village\, 1650 Hartford-New London Tpke\, Montville\, 06370\, United States
CATEGORIES:The Dinosaur Place
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Pumpkin-Passage-Turns-The-Dinosaur-Place-Into-a-Glowing-Halloween-Playground.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T203000
DTSTAMP:20261005T203906Z
CREATED:20261005T201104Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T203906Z
UID:10007890-1791745200-1791750600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Moonlit Mystic Graveyard Ghost Tours Takes Visitors Into One of Mystic’s Oldest Burial Grounds After Dark
DESCRIPTION:Moonlit Mystic Graveyard Ghost Tours turns a colonial burial ground into a lantern-lit journey through nearly four centuries of Mystic history on multiple nights this fall\, combining documented stories of war\, disease\, abolition\, slavery and early New England burial customs with the legends and reported paranormal activity that have accumulated around the cemetery. \nThe 1-hour-and-45-minute walking tours take place at Whitehall Burial Ground\, tucked just off Hendel Drive in Mystic. Rather than moving through downtown and stopping outside supposedly haunted buildings\, this Seaside Shadows tour spends the evening inside the historic cemetery itself. \nAnd this is not a one-night event. \nThe tours continue on Wednesday\, Friday and Sunday evenings through November\, with additional Saturday tours during October. September and October tours begin at 7 p.m.\, making this one CT Beacon event listing that can carry readers through much of the fall rather than disappearing after a single weekend. \nWhitehall Goes Back to the 1660s\nPart of what gives this particular ghost tour its atmosphere is that Whitehall Burial Ground really is old. \nThe burial ground dates to the 1660s\, when southeastern Connecticut was still a collection of small colonial settlements surrounded by a landscape that would have been almost unrecognizable to someone driving through Mystic today. \nFor generations\, Whitehall served as one of the area’s common burial places. \nThat changed during the 19th century as Americans began embracing the rural cemetery movement\, which replaced older\, compact burial grounds with larger landscaped cemeteries designed partly as places for reflection and remembrance. \nMystic’s Elm Grove Cemetery was established in 1853 during that transition. \nBy 1854\, Whitehall’s role as one of the community’s principal burial places was coming to an end. \nThe graves left behind\, however\, preserve a remarkably long stretch of local history. \nThis Is a Ghost Tour Built Around Real People\nSeaside Shadows describes the experience as a blend of history and mystery\, and that distinction matters. \nThis isn’t a haunted attraction filled with actors waiting behind tombstones. \nThe stories begin with actual people buried at Whitehall and events that shaped southeastern Connecticut. \nGuests hear about men connected to King Philip’s War\, the brutal 17th-century conflict between English colonists and Native peoples that devastated communities throughout New England. \nThe tour moves forward into the American Revolution and stories of Patriot defenders who met violent ends. \nIt also explores the lives of abolitionists\, enslaved and formerly enslaved people\, women and families whose stories provide a different perspective on Mystic’s early history than the familiar tales of ship captains and maritime commerce. \nThen things get stranger. \nYes\, There Are Vampires\nOne of the more unusual subjects woven into the tour is New England’s very real history of vampire scares. \nThese weren’t vampires in the Dracula sense. \nDuring outbreaks of tuberculosis\, then commonly called consumption\, some New England communities came to believe that a deceased family member might somehow be draining the life from surviving relatives. \nIn several documented cases during the 18th and 19th centuries\, bodies were exhumed and examined for signs that the dead were continuing to prey upon the living. \nSometimes organs were removed or burned. \nThe practices reflected communities trying to explain a devastating disease before modern medicine understood how tuberculosis spread. \nAgainst the backdrop of a centuries-old cemetery after dark\, it also provides the kind of history that doesn’t require much embellishment to become unsettling. \nGravestones Tell Their Own Stories\nVisitors aren’t simply hearing stories while walking past anonymous stones. \nEarly New England gravestones developed their own visual language. \nSkulls\, winged death’s heads\, cherubs and other carvings could communicate ideas about death\, mortality and the afterlife. The style and symbolism changed as religious beliefs and attitudes toward death evolved. \nThe tour uses the cemetery itself to introduce some of those burial traditions and grave markings. \nThat gives the walk another layer. \nYou’re not touring a recreation of colonial New England. \nThe objects you’re examining are the surviving pieces of it. \nThen History Gives Way to the Paranormal\nThis is still a ghost tour. \nSeaside Shadows incorporates accounts of paranormal experiences associated with Whitehall\, including reports of unexplained footsteps\, voices and apparitions. \nThe company’s guides also discuss experiences reported during previous tours. \nThose stories are presented alongside local folklore\, including the traditional figure of a Lady in White\, a recurring type of apparition found in legends throughout New England and far beyond it. \nWhether visitors interpret those accounts as paranormal activity\, folklore or the power of suggestion in a dark cemetery is entirely up to them. \nThe setting certainly does its share of the work. \nThere aren’t many environments naturally better suited to a ghost story than a colonial burial ground after sunset. \nCaptain John Gallup Connects Whitehall to a Violent Period of Colonial History\nAmong the historic figures associated with the tour is Captain John Gallup\, whose family was deeply connected to the early colonial history of the region. \nGallup served during King Philip’s War and was killed in 1675 during the Great Swamp Fight in Rhode Island\, one of the conflict’s bloodiest engagements. \nHis story opens the door to a much larger and more complicated period in New England history involving colonial expansion\, Native resistance\, warfare and the destruction of communities. \nOther stops explore the Woodbridge family\, Revolutionary War history and people whose lives intersected with abolition and emancipation. \nThe tour also includes the stories of Quash and Hannah Williams\, using their lives to explore Black history\, enslavement\, freedom and Native American history in the region. \nThat’s where the experience becomes considerably more interesting than simply compiling local ghost stories. \nThe cemetery becomes a timeline. \nMystic’s Ghost Tours Started With a Local Historian\nThe company behind the tour\, Seaside Shadows Haunted History Tours\, was founded in 2013 by Connecticut author and historian Courtney McInvale Reardon. \nMcInvale wrote Haunted Mystic\, published the following year\, and built Seaside Shadows around the idea of combining historical research with local legends and paranormal accounts. \nThe company now operates several experiences\, including its Downtown Mystic Ghost Tour and haunted pub crawls\, but the graveyard tour is fundamentally different from walking through the village. \nDowntown Mystic still has traffic\, restaurants\, shops\, bars and people moving around. \nWhitehall after dark is another environment entirely. \nOctober Adds More Chances to Go\nThe schedule becomes more aggressive as Halloween approaches. \nDuring September and October\, the regular graveyard tours begin at 7 p.m. \nIn October\, Seaside Shadows adds Saturday performances at 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.\, giving visitors another opportunity to experience the cemetery during the height of spooky season. \nThe price also changes. \nRegular-season admission is $30 per person. October admission increases to $35. \nBecause this is a recurring event\, readers should select their preferred date and confirm the available time when purchasing tickets rather than assuming every night follows exactly the same schedule. \nThis Is a Walking Tour in a Real Cemetery\nThat last point is important. \nWhitehall is not a paved theme-park attraction. \nParticipants will be walking through an old burial ground after dark\, where the terrain can include uneven ground and other natural obstacles. \nSeaside Shadows recommends the experience for guests 11 and older and asks visitors to dress appropriately for the weather. \nIts participation waiver specifically identifies potential hazards including uneven or slippery surfaces\, cemetery terrain\, low lighting and inclement weather. \nGood walking shoes make considerably more sense here than dressing for Halloween. \nTours operate outdoors\, and Seaside Shadows generally runs its experiences rain or shine. Tickets are final except when the company cancels a tour. \nNearly Two Hours Between the Headstones\nThe current Seaside Shadows description puts the Moonlit Mystic Graveyard Ghost Tour at approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes. \nThat’s enough time to move beyond a handful of ghost stories. \nThe tour can reach into colonial warfare\, the Revolution\, disease\, abolition\, slavery\, emancipation\, local folklore\, cemetery symbolism and burial practices while still leaving room for the paranormal accounts that put “ghost” in the name. \nThere is even a final spooky surprise that Seaside Shadows deliberately doesn’t explain in advance. \nProbably best to leave that one buried. \nDetails\nEvent: Moonlit Mystic Graveyard Ghost Tours\nSeason: Through November 29\, 2026\nSeptember Schedule: Wednesdays\, Fridays and Sundays\nSeptember Start Time: 7 p.m.\nOctober Schedule: Regular Wednesday\, Friday and Sunday tours\, plus additional Saturday tours\nOctober Saturday Times: 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.\nLocation: Whitehall Burial Ground\nMeeting Point: Gates of Whitehall Burial Ground\nStreet: Hendel Drive\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nTour Length: Approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes\nAdmission: $30 during the regular season; $35 in October\nRecommended Age: 11+\nFormat: Guided outdoor walking tour through a historic colonial burial ground\nTerrain: Cemetery terrain with uneven surfaces and low-light conditions\nWeather: Dress appropriately for outdoor conditions; tours generally operate rain or shine\nWhat to Wear: Comfortable walking shoes and clothing appropriate for the weather\nTickets: Advance ticket purchase is recommended; select the specific tour date and time when booking\nOrganizer: Seaside Shadows Haunted History Tours\nPhone: 860-754-8923\nEmail: info@seasideshadows.com \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown. \n  \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/moonlit-mystic-graveyard-ghost-tours-takes-visitors-into-one-of-mystics-oldest-burial-grounds-after-dark-4/
LOCATION:Gates of Whitehall Burial Ground\, Hendel Drive\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Gates of Whitehall Burial Ground
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261011T220000
DTSTAMP:20261005T200753Z
CREATED:20261005T200752Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261005T200753Z
UID:10008619-1791745200-1791756000@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:The Ghost of Black Sam Turns a Real Pirate Shipwreck Into a Haunted Trail
DESCRIPTION:The Ghost of Black Sam Turns a Real Pirate Shipwreck Into a Haunted Trail begins Oct. 1 at Mystic KOA\, where one of New England’s most remarkable pirate stories becomes the inspiration for a monthlong nighttime Halloween attraction. \nThe outdoor trail runs from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays throughout October at the Mystic KOA Holiday campground in North Stonington. The premise is straightforward: visitors enter the darkness and walk a trail where\, according to the attraction’s story\, the ghost of pirate Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy still roams. \nBut unlike the invented killers and monsters behind many haunted attractions\, Black Sam was real. \nSo was his ship. \nAnd what happened to it during a violent New England storm in 1717 has become one of the great archaeological stories of the Golden Age of Piracy. \nThe Pirate Behind the Ghost\nSamuel Bellamy’s career as a pirate was remarkably short. \nBorn in England in 1689\, Bellamy emerged as a pirate captain during the early 18th century and spent roughly a year capturing ships in the Caribbean and along the Atlantic. \nHe was only 28 when he died. \nYet during that brief career\, Bellamy and his crew captured more than 50 vessels. His greatest prize came in early 1717 when his pirates seized the Whydah Gally near the Bahamas. \nThe Whydah had a darker history before Bellamy ever stepped aboard. \nBuilt in London\, the ship had been designed for the transatlantic slave trade. On its maiden voyage\, it sailed to the West African coast\, transported hundreds of enslaved people to the Caribbean and was returning toward England with the proceeds of that voyage when Bellamy captured it. \nIts size\, speed and firepower made it an ideal pirate flagship. \nBellamy took command. \nHe would have it for only about two months. \nA Nor’easter Off Cape Cod\nOn April 26\, 1717\, Bellamy and the Whydah were sailing north along the New England coast when they encountered a powerful nor’easter. \nThe ship was driven onto the shoals off what is now Wellfleet\, Massachusetts. \nThe Whydah broke apart. \nNearly everyone aboard died. \nThe wreck disappeared beneath Cape Cod’s shifting sands along with weapons\, coins\, silver and the accumulated possessions of Bellamy’s crew. \nFor generations\, the Whydah became part history and part legend. \nThen\, in 1984\, underwater explorer Barry Clifford and his team found the wreck off Wellfleet. The discovery was authenticated after divers recovered the ship’s bell bearing the name THE WHYDAH GALLY and the date 1716. \nThe Whydah became the first authenticated Golden Age pirate shipwreck ever recovered. \nArtifacts from the wreck continue to preserve a remarkably tangible connection to Bellamy and his crew more than 300 years after the storm. \nThat history gives The Ghost of Black Sam something most Halloween trails don’t have. \nIts monster once lived. \nFrom Shipwreck to Ghost Story\nThe haunting\, of course\, belongs to folklore rather than documented history. \nStories surrounding Bellamy have accumulated for centuries\, particularly around Cape Cod\, where the pirate’s death became entangled with tales of lost treasure\, restless spirits and a supposed doomed romance. \nModern retellings often connect Bellamy with a Cape Cod woman named Maria Hallett and describe him returning north to reunite with her when the Whydah was destroyed. \nIt’s a wonderfully gothic story. \nIt’s also one that historians have increasingly cautioned against treating as established fact. The romanticized Maria Hallett narrative developed long after Bellamy’s death\, and some details commonly repeated as pirate history are better understood as folklore. \nFor a haunted attraction\, however\, that collision of history and legend is precisely the point. \nThe Ghost of Black Sam takes the documented core — a young pirate captain\, a captured ship\, treasure\, a catastrophic nor’easter and a wreck beneath the waters of Cape Cod — and asks visitors to imagine that Bellamy never really left. \nHalloween Begins Oct. 1\nThe attraction opens Thursday\, Oct. 1\, effectively starting Halloween month on its first night. \nThe trail operates from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday throughout October\, culminating on Halloween night\, Saturday\, Oct. 31. \nMystic KOA Holiday sits at 118 Pendleton Hill Road in North Stonington\, providing the attraction with something difficult to manufacture inside a warehouse: actual woods and nighttime darkness. \nThe promotional material promises a spooky trail experience based on the legend of Black Sam Bellamy\, with lanterns\, pirates and the suggestion that something may still be wandering the trail. \nAdmission listed by the event is $20 for adults\, $10 for ages 11–16 and free for children under 10. The attraction is also free with a KOA campsite during a valid night of stay. \nIt’s a Halloween story with an unusually strong historical anchor. \nBlack Sam Bellamy doesn’t need an elaborate fictional origin story. \nMore than three centuries ago\, his pirate ship really did disappear into a nor’easter off New England. \nThe wreck really was found. \nAnd the treasure really was still there. \nWhat happens after dark in North Stonington is where history gives way to Halloween. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nDetails\nEvent: The Ghost of Black Sam\nOpening Night: Thursday\, Oct. 1\, 2026\nRun: Thursdays through Sundays throughout October\, through Oct. 31\nTime: 7–10 p.m.\nVenue: Mystic KOA Holiday\nAddress: 118 Pendleton Hill Road\, North Stonington\, CT 06359\nAdmission: Adults $20; ages 11–16 $10; children under 10 free\nKOA Guests: Free with a KOA campsite during a valid night of stay\nExperience: Outdoor spooky trail inspired by the legend of pirate Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy\nEvent Contact: Mystic KOA Campground\, 860-599-5101 \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/the-ghost-of-black-sam-turns-a-real-pirate-shipwreck-into-a-haunted-trail-3/
LOCATION:Mystic KOA\, 118 Pendleton Hill Rd\, North Stonington\, 06359\, United States
CATEGORIES:Mystic KOA
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