BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//The CT Beacon - ECPv6.18.0//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://thectbeacon.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The CT Beacon
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260904T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260904T210000
DTSTAMP:20260911T012618Z
CREATED:20260831T181048Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260911T012618Z
UID:10007289-1788548400-1788555600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Moth Ball at Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
DESCRIPTION:Moth Ball at Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center turns the lights on after dark Friday\, September 4\, for a hands-on look at the surprisingly diverse world of moths living around Mystic. \nFrom 7:15 to 9:15 p.m.\, DPNC will set up illuminated sheets and wait to see what flies in. Participants won’t simply watch. They’ll help count and catalog the moths that arrive\, take a nighttime nature walk and learn more about insects that spend much of their lives unnoticed by us. \nAnd that’s part of the fun. \nNobody knows exactly who is coming to the Moth Ball. \nButterflies Get the Day Shift\nButterflies have a considerable public-relations advantage over moths. \nThey’re out when we are. \nWe see monarchs crossing a meadow\, swallowtails visiting flowers and little skippers bouncing around the garden. We photograph them\, plant gardens for them and generally agree that butterflies are among the insects we’re happy to have around. \nThen the sun goes down. \nThat’s when an enormous part of the Lepidoptera world takes over. \nMoths and butterflies belong to the same insect order\, Lepidoptera\, but moths account for the overwhelming majority of its species. And the little brown moth bouncing against the porch light represents only a tiny fraction of what they can look like. \nConnecticut is home to moths that can be green\, pink\, orange\, yellow or patterned with elaborate eyespots. Some are barely noticed. Others can be startlingly large. \nMoth Ball is designed to find out which ones are flying around the Nature Center on one September night. \nTurn On a Light and See Who Arrives\nThe setup is wonderfully simple. \nDPNC will use custom light sheets to observe moths after dark. \nA bright light illuminates a pale sheet\, creating a large surface where visiting insects can land and be examined without disappearing against leaves\, bark and the darkness surrounding them. \nThen you wait. \nMoths and other nocturnal insects begin arriving\, turning a blank piece of fabric into a temporary field station. \nParticipants can get close enough to examine patterns\, body shapes\, antennae and other characteristics that would be nearly impossible to study while an insect is flying through the woods. \nDPNC will use the evening as an actual hands-on survey\, with visitors helping count and catalog what appears. \nThe night’s species list won’t be known until the moths write it themselves. \nWhy Do Moths Fly Toward Lights?\nEveryone has seen it happen. \nTurn on a porch light and sooner or later something starts circling it. \nThe familiar explanation is that moths are simply “attracted to light\,” but scientists have found that the behavior is more complicated. \nNocturnal insects evolved in a world where the brightest objects in the night sky were extremely far away. Researchers have investigated how moths and other insects use natural light for orientation and why nearby artificial lights disrupt that behavior. \nRecent research suggests artificial light can interfere with an insect’s ability to maintain its normal orientation to the sky\, causing it to repeatedly turn around or circle the source rather than deliberately flying straight toward it. \nFor naturalists\, that confusion has an unintended benefit. \nLight becomes a remarkably effective tool for seeing animals that would otherwise remain hidden in the dark. \nThe Giants of Connecticut’s Moth World\nThere’s no guarantee that one of Connecticut’s spectacular giant silk moths will appear at Moth Ball. \nBut they’re out there. \nThe state is home to species including the luna\, cecropia\, polyphemus and promethea moths. \nThe cecropia is the largest native moth in North America\, with a wingspan that can reach roughly six inches. \nPolyphemus moths carry enormous eyespots on their hindwings. Their name comes from Polyphemus\, the one-eyed Cyclops of Greek mythology. \nThen there’s the luna. \nFew insects look quite like it. \nA luna moth has large pale-green wings\, prominent eyespots and sweeping tails extending from its hindwings. An adult can span several inches from wingtip to wingtip. \nThose long tails aren’t simply ornamental. \nResearch indicates that they can help defend luna moths against one of their major nighttime predators: bats. The twisting tails can interfere with a bat’s echolocation attack\, potentially drawing the strike away from the moth’s body. \nIt’s a remarkable defense system happening in darkness where most people never see it. \nThe Moth That Doesn’t Stop for Dinner\nThe adult luna moth has another unusual characteristic. \nIt doesn’t eat. \nOnce the moth emerges from its cocoon\, its digestive system is essentially finished with its job. The adult has no functional mouthparts for feeding. \nAll of the energy it will have as an adult was stored while it was a caterpillar. \nThat doesn’t leave much time. \nThe adult stage generally lasts only about a week. Its purpose is to find a mate and reproduce before that stored energy is exhausted. \nThink about that the next time you see a luna moth resting beneath a light. \nYou’re looking at a very brief chapter of a much longer life cycle. \nMoths Have a Night Job\nMoths aren’t simply nighttime butterflies. \nThey also perform important work in the ecosystem. \nMany species visit flowers and move pollen between plants after daytime pollinators have stopped working. Their caterpillars consume vegetation and\, in turn\, become an important food source for other animals. \nBirds depend heavily on caterpillars when feeding their young. \nAdult moths become prey for bats\, birds\, spiders and other animals. \nThat puts moths in the middle of a much larger food web. \nTake away the moths and you haven’t simply lost some insects around the porch light. You’ve removed food from animals higher up the chain and pollinators from plants that depend on nighttime visitors. \nA Nature Center After Dark\nThe setting makes Moth Ball particularly interesting. \nDenison Pequotsepos Nature Center protects a landscape of forest\, meadow and wetland habitat in Mystic. Together with its other properties\, DPNC provides more than 10 miles of trails and hundreds of acres of protected habitat. \nMost visitors experience those woods during daylight. \nMoth Ball offers a different shift. \nThe program includes a nature walk after dark\, along with a short presentation and craft. But the light sheets provide the evening’s experiment. \nSet them up. \nTurn on the lights. \nAnd watch the surrounding habitat begin revealing animals that were there all along. \nWho Will Come to the Moth Ball?\nThat’s the question DPNC can’t answer in advance. \nMaybe the sheets will fill with small moths that take some work to identify. \nMaybe something colorful arrives. \nMaybe a sphinx moth makes an appearance. \nMaybe one of the giant silk moths turns up. \nOr maybe the most interesting insect of the night is a species nobody walking in expected to see. \nThat’s different from visiting a zoo or nature exhibit where the animals are already waiting. \nAt Moth Ball\, nothing has been placed on display. \nThe insects are wild. \nThe woods are open. \nAnd the guest list is entirely up to them. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Moth Ball\nDate: Friday\, September 4\, 2026\nTime: 7:15–9:15 p.m.\nLocation: Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center\nAddress: 109 Pequotsepos Road\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nDPNC Members: $12.75\nNonmembers: $15\nActivities: Moth observation\, counting and cataloging\, presentation\, nature walk and craft\nMoth Observation: Custom illuminated light sheets\nRegistration: Preregistration required\nEvent Categories: Families\, Walk \nMoth Ball at Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center takes visitors into the nighttime world of Mystic’s moths with illuminated observation sheets\, a nature walk and a hands-on effort to count and catalog whatever species arrive. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown. \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/moth-ball-at-denison-pequotsepos-nature-center/
LOCATION:Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center\, 109 Pequotsepos Road\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Moth-Ball-at-Denison-Pequotsepos-Nature-Center.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260904T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260904T223000
DTSTAMP:20260626T233945Z
CREATED:20260513T011926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260626T233945Z
UID:10001496-1788553800-1788561000@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center's Stargazing Nights
DESCRIPTION:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center’s Stargazing Nights turn a quiet Friday evening in Ninigret Park into one of the most atmospheric experiences in southern New England. Hosted by Frosty Drew Observatory & Science Center\, the weekly gathering invites visitors to explore the night sky through powerful telescopes while astronomers guide guests across planets\, star clusters\, distant galaxies\, and the glowing band of the Milky Way overhead. Under some of the darkest skies in Rhode Island\, the experience feels less like a formal science program and more like stumbling into a community of people quietly obsessed with the universe. \nAs darkness settles over Ninigret Park\, visitors can expect views that change depending on the season and sky conditions\, often including Saturn’s rings\, Jupiter’s moons\, the cratered surface of the Moon\, and deep space objects rarely visible in brighter suburban areas. The observatory’s Sky Theatre and telescope stations create an immersive environment where curious first-timers mingle with amateur astronomers and longtime stargazers. There’s something strangely calming about standing in near silence while strangers take turns peering into the cosmos\, especially on clear summer nights when the Milky Way stretches visibly across the sky. \nThe observatory typically opens around 8:30 p.m. on Friday nights and remains active through at least 10:30 p.m.\, sometimes later depending on weather and viewing conditions. Because the event is weather dependent\, updates are posted on the day of the event before 3 p.m. Organizers also note that Ninigret Park’s dark sky rules prohibit white light use after dusk in order to protect night vision and sensitive astronomical equipment\, giving the entire area an almost surreal glow of dim red lights and shadowy pathways. Tickets for Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center’s Stargazing Nights can be purchased by clicking the event link below. \nWhen ticket sales open\, a link to purchase / acquire tickets will be added to the “Cost” field on the event page. Once event capacity is reached\, these fields will be listed as “Sold Out“\, and we will be unable to allow entry to any more guests. \nRules and Suggestions:\n• Guests should avoid using white flashlights\, phone flashlights\, or bright screens after dusk\n• Red light flashlights are encouraged to preserve night vision\n• Bug spray is highly recommended during warmer months due to mosquitoes and insects near the wildlife refuge\n• Weather conditions may affect visibility or event operations\n• Children ages 5 and older require tickets\n• Arriving early is recommended for the best viewing opportunities and parking access \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/frosty-drew-observatory-and-science-centers-stargazing-nights/2026-09-04/
LOCATION:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center\, 61-62 Park Lane\, Charlestown\, RI\, 02813\, United States
CATEGORIES:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Frosty-Drew-Observatory-and-Science-Centers-Stargazing-Nights.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260905T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260905T110000
DTSTAMP:20260902T211930Z
CREATED:20260902T211930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260902T211930Z
UID:10007428-1788598800-1788606000@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Run for the Hills 5K at Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve
DESCRIPTION:Run for the Hills 5K at Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve returns Saturday\, September 5\, inviting runners and hikers onto the trails of one of East Lyme’s largest protected natural areas while raising money to maintain the land they’re traveling through. \nThe fifth annual trail race begins at 9 a.m. at the preserve in Niantic. Check-in opens at 8 a.m.\, and an awards ceremony follows at 10:30 a.m. \nThis isn’t a conventional road 5K. The approximately 3.3-mile route follows hiking trails through the preserve\, including a stretch by Clark Pond\, with exposed rocks\, roots and uneven footing along the way. Hikers are welcome to participate alongside runners. \nOnline registration is currently $30 before the registration service fee. Day-of registration is $35 cash. \nA 5K That’s Actually a Little Longer Than a 5K\nThe name is easy to remember. \nThe course isn’t quite as simple. \nRun for the Hills covers approximately 3.3 miles\, making it slightly longer than the traditional 3.1-mile 5K distance. \nMore importantly\, those miles aren’t on pavement. \nThe route follows trails within the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve\, where runners should expect exposed rocks\, tree roots and the naturally uneven surfaces of a coastal Connecticut forest. \nThat makes the event a trail race in the real sense rather than a road race that happens to pass through a park. \nThe route takes participants around the perimeter of the preserve and past Clark Pond\, combining a competitive event with an introduction to a landscape that can be surprisingly rugged considering how close it sits to downtown Niantic. \nYou Don’t Have to Run It\nOne of the more welcoming aspects of Run for the Hills is that organizers explicitly invite hikers. \nThere’s no requirement to attack the course at racing speed. \nSomeone who wants to support the preserve and experience the route at walking pace can register and hike it instead. \nThat makes sense considering the purpose of the event. \nRun for the Hills isn’t simply using the preserve as a convenient location for a race. Proceeds go directly toward maintaining the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve. \nThe land is the reason for the event. \nMore Than 450 Acres of Coastal Forest\nThe Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve protects more than 450 acres in Niantic\, creating a large block of forest remarkably close to the developed shoreline. \nVisitors find ponds and wetlands\, rocky ridges\, glacial features and stretches of forest threaded together by miles of trails. \nThe preserve’s main entrance is reached from Memorial Park Drive off Route 161\, with parking near the athletic fields. \nFor Saturday’s race\, organizers say parking will be available adjacent to the preserve. Overflow parking will be available at East Lyme Town Hall at 108 Pennsylvania Avenue. \nThe preserve is maintained with help from Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve\, the nonprofit organization behind Run for the Hills. \nThat maintenance takes work. \nTrails need attention. Invasive plants need to be managed. Signs and educational resources need to be maintained. Storms and erosion can create new problems. \nRun for the Hills turns one morning of recreation into a fundraiser for that continuing stewardship. \nThe Oswegatchie Hills Are Bigger Than the Existing Preserve\nThe protected nature preserve is also part of a larger environmental story. \nFor years\, conservation organizations have fought to protect additional undeveloped land in the Oswegatchie Hills overlooking the Niantic River. \nFriends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve and Save the River-Save the Hills have worked with other conservation advocates to preserve more of the surrounding forest and prevent large-scale development in the watershed. \nThat’s where the geography becomes particularly important. \nThe hills don’t exist in isolation from the river below. \nRain falling across the landscape moves through soil\, wetlands\, streams and groundwater on its way toward the Niantic River. Forested land can absorb rainfall and slow runoff before it reaches the estuary. \nProtecting the hills therefore has implications beyond preserving hiking trails. \nIt’s also part of protecting the watershed. \nLast Year’s Race Drew More Than 120 Runners\nRun for the Hills has grown quickly. \nThe fourth annual race in 2025 drew more than 120 runners to the preserve. \nParticipants ranged from 8 to 77 years old and came from eight states\, including competitors traveling from as far away as South Carolina\, Georgia and New Hampshire. \nOrganizers reported that the race brought many first-time visitors into the preserve. \nThat may be one of the event’s most useful side effects. \nPeople can read about open-space preservation. They can look at acreage numbers on a map. \nRunning three-plus miles through the actual forest makes the thing being protected considerably less abstract. \nAwards Follow the Race\nSaturday’s schedule begins with race-day check-in at 8 a.m. \nThe race starts at 9. \nAt 10:30 a.m.\, participants will gather at the nature preserve for an awards ceremony and refreshments. \nAwards will recognize the overall first-place male and female finishers. \nThe top three men and women will also be recognized across seven age divisions: 19 and younger\, 20–29\, 30–39\, 40–49\, 50–59\, 60–69 and 70 and older. \nThe race will be professionally timed by SNERRO\, LLC. \nAnd because hikers are welcome\, nobody needs to be chasing an age-group medal to have a reason to participate. \nOne of Two Save the River-Save the Hills Events Saturday\nThe trail race isn’t the only conservation-themed event happening around the Niantic River on September 5. \nLater Saturday\, Red Lion Reggae Band is scheduled to perform at a separate Save the River-Save the Hills event on the Niantic River. \nThat event begins at 5 p.m. and is accessible by boat rather than from a conventional land-based concert venue. \nThe two events are separate and require very different plans\, but they share the same larger environmental backdrop: protecting the Oswegatchie Hills and the Niantic River watershed. \nEvent Details\nEvent: 5th Annual Run for the Hills 5K\nDate: Saturday\, September 5\, 2026\nCheck-In: 8 a.m.\nRace Start: 9 a.m.\nAwards Ceremony: 10:30 a.m.\nLocation: Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve\nAddress: 10 Memorial Park Drive\, Niantic\, CT 06357\nDistance: Approximately 3.3 miles\nCourse: Trail course with rocks\, roots and uneven terrain\nHikers: Welcome\nOnline Registration: $30 before registration service fee\nDay-of Registration: $35 cash\nParking: Adjacent to the preserve\nOverflow Parking: East Lyme Town Hall\, 108 Pennsylvania Avenue\, Niantic\nTiming: SNERRO\, LLC\nBeneficiary: Maintenance of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo register\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown. \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/run-for-the-hills-5k-at-oswegatchie-hills-nature-preserve/
LOCATION:Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve\, 10 Memorial Park Drive\, Niantic\, 06357\, United States
CATEGORIES:Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Run-for-the-Hills-5K-at-Oswegatchie-Hills-Nature-Preserve.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260905T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260905T190000
DTSTAMP:20260902T222012Z
CREATED:20260902T222012Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260902T222012Z
UID:10007429-1788627600-1788634800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Red Lion Reggae Band on the Niantic River
DESCRIPTION:Red Lion Reggae Band on the Niantic River Saturday\, September 5\, bringing live roots reggae directly onto the water for an unusual Save the River-Save the Hills event beginning at 5 p.m. \nThere isn’t a parking address to plug into the GPS. \nIn fact\, the event flyer says exactly the opposite: \nNo parking. By boat\, canoe\, kayak\, or float. No landing or docking.  \nIf you’re used to arriving at a club\, festival\, or park to see a band\, this one requires a completely different plan. \nYou need to be on the river. \nRed Lion Comes Out of Southern New England’s Reggae Scene\nRed Lion Reggae Band brings together musicians with roots in a number of reggae projects familiar around southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. \nMembers have musical connections to groups including Soulshot\, Large Up\, Dub Squad\, Inity\, Space Mon Rah and High Voltage Band. \nAt the front is vocalist and percussionist Eric “Irie Feelinz” Williams. \nGuitarist and vocalist Jeff Gibson is another member of the group. \nRather than approaching reggae simply as summertime party music\, Red Lion has been described around the regional music scene as playing conscious\, uplifting reggae\, combining original lyrics with a message centered on positivity and unity. \nThat makes the group a particularly appropriate choice for an environmental gathering on the Niantic River. \nReggae Has Always Had Something to Say\nReggae certainly works on the water. \nBut there’s more to the pairing than atmosphere. \nThe genre that developed in Jamaica during the late 1960s and 1970s has a long history of connecting music with social commentary\, spirituality\, political struggle and calls for unity. \nBob Marley and the Wailers took that message around the world\, but conscious reggae has never been limited to Marley. \nArtists including Peter Tosh\, Burning Spear and generations that followed used reggae to address the world around them rather than treating the music solely as entertainment. \nRed Lion operates within that broader tradition while drawing on decades of reggae played much closer to home. \nThe members’ connections to multiple New England bands give the project a lineage within the region’s own reggae community. \nA Band Built From Familiar Regional Players\nSoutheastern Connecticut has sustained a surprisingly durable reggae scene. \nRed Lion is one of its newer combinations. \nThe band has appeared around New London and elsewhere in southern New England\, including a downtown New London Let Loose Thursday performance. \nThe group’s sound crosses roots reggae and related styles while retaining the live-band character at the center of the genre: vocals\, guitar\, bass\, drums and rhythm working together rather than a preprogrammed approximation of reggae. \nThat should translate particularly well to Saturday’s setting. \nThere isn’t much need to manufacture a tropical atmosphere when the audience is already floating on the Niantic River on Labor Day weekend. \nThe Concert Is Really About the River\nThe location isn’t incidental. \nSave the River-Save the Hills is a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to protecting the Niantic River Estuary\, its watershed and the Oswegatchie Hills. \nIts work extends across the watershed in East Lyme\, Waterford\, Montville and Salem. \nThe organization has spent years advocating for the river while also trying to make a larger point about watersheds: \nWhat happens on land eventually affects the water. \nDevelopment\, stormwater runoff\, nutrients\, sewage and changes to the surrounding landscape can all influence an estuary. \nThat’s why the organization’s name includes both halves. \nSave the River. \nSave the Hills. \nThe Niantic River Isn’t Really a Conventional River\nThe Niantic River is an estuary connected to Niantic Bay and Long Island Sound. \nFresh water draining from the surrounding watershed meets salt water moving inland from the Sound\, creating a productive environment for marine and coastal life. \nThat connection also makes the estuary sensitive to what happens upstream and along its shores. \nWater doesn’t respect town boundaries. \nRunoff entering a tributary miles away can ultimately become part of the same system used by boaters\, anglers\, wildlife and people living along the Niantic River. \nSave the River-Save the Hills has built much of its work around that interconnectedness. \nOne of Its Most Practical Programs Happens From a Boat\nThe organization doesn’t limit itself to advocacy. \nIt also operates the Niantic River pumpout boat. \nThe concept is remarkably straightforward. \nRecreational boats equipped with holding tanks accumulate sewage. Instead of that waste entering local waters\, boaters can use the pumpout service to have it removed. \nThe program operates during boating season\, with service continuing beyond Labor Day on a reduced weekend schedule. \nIt’s one of those environmental programs that isn’t particularly glamorous but produces an easily understood result: \nWaste removed from a boat is waste that doesn’t end up in the estuary. \nSo there is something fitting about Save the River-Save the Hills bringing people together for another event that can only be experienced from boats. \nThe Hills Above the River Matter Too\nThe organization’s other major focus is visible from its name. \nSave the River-Save the Hills has worked alongside Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve and other conservation advocates to protect undeveloped land in the Oswegatchie Hills. \nMore than 450 acres are already protected within the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve. \nAdditional land has remained the subject of a long-running conservation effort. \nThe reason is both scenic and ecological. \nForested hills absorb rainfall\, provide wildlife habitat and help reduce the amount and speed of runoff moving toward waterways. \nProtecting the forest above the Niantic River therefore becomes part of protecting the river itself. \nIt’s watershed conservation in its most literal form. \nEarlier Saturday\, People Will Be Running Through Those Hills\nSeptember 5 happens to put both halves of the organization’s mission on display\, although the events are separate. \nAt 9 a.m.\, the fifth annual Run for the Hills 5K takes place at the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve. \nThat event is a roughly 3.3-mile trail race and hike raising money for maintenance of the preserve. \nEight hours later\, Red Lion begins playing on the Niantic River. \nSomeone could conceivably spend the morning running through the hills and the evening listening to reggae from a boat\, but neither event depends upon attending the other. \nFor the evening crowd\, the river itself is the venue. \nWhat We Know — and What We Don’t\nThis is one event where it’s important not to fill in missing details. \nThe promotional flyer confirms a 5 p.m. performance Saturday\, September 5\, on the Niantic River with Red Lion Reggae Band. \nIt also explicitly says there is no parking and access is by boat only. \nWhat isn’t stated is equally important. \nThe flyer doesn’t provide a conventional street address for the concert. It doesn’t advertise a ticket price. It doesn’t identify a public shoreline viewing area. And it doesn’t tell attendees to park somewhere and walk to the performance. \nIt also doesn’t establish whether the musicians will be performing aboard a vessel\, from a dock\, float or waterfront property. \nUntil organizers provide more specific instructions\, those details shouldn’t be assumed. \nThe important instruction for anyone interested in attending is the simplest one on the flyer: \nBy boat only. \nA Different Kind of Labor Day Weekend Concert\nThere will be plenty of places around southeastern Connecticut to hear live music over Labor Day weekend. \nVery few require arriving by water. \nThat gives Red Lion’s September 5 performance a character of its own before the first note is played. \nBoats on the Niantic River. \nA regional reggae band playing conscious music. \nAnd an organization using the water it’s spent years trying to protect as the setting for the gathering. \nSometimes the venue tells most of the story. \nThis time\, the venue is the river. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Red Lion Reggae Band on the Niantic River\nDate: Saturday\, September 5\, 2026\nTime: 5 p.m.\nLocation: Golden Spur\, Niantic River\nFeaturing: The Red Lion Reggae Band\nMusic: Roots and conscious reggae\nPresented in Support of: Save the River-Save the Hills\nAccess: By boat\, canoe\, kayak\, or float. No landing or docking.\nParking: None\nAdmission: No admission charge is stated on the promotional flyer \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown. \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/red-lion-reggae-band-on-the-niantic-river/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Red-Lion-Reggae-Band-on-the-Niantic-River.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260910T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260910T220000
DTSTAMP:20260907T014424Z
CREATED:20260907T014315Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260907T014424Z
UID:10007489-1789070400-1789077600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:The Night Sky at Stonington Lighthouse Museum
DESCRIPTION:The Night Sky at Stonington Lighthouse Museum begins a new evening series on Thursday\, September 10\, with celestial navigation\, maritime history and stargazing on the waterfront grounds of Stonington’s historic 1840 lighthouse. \nBrian Koehler\, Associate Director of the Treworgy Planetarium at Mystic Seaport Museum\, leads the first program\, exploring how mariners once used sky observations to determine their position at sea and how those techniques relate to sailors from Stonington’s maritime past. \nThe evening runs from 8 to 10 p.m.\, with Koehler’s presentation beginning at 8:30 p.m. Guests are encouraged to bring a blanket\, pack snacks\, and settle onto the lighthouse grounds for an evening under the stars. \nFinding Your Way Before GPS\nFor centuries\, going to sea meant learning to read the sky. \nCelestial navigation uses observations of the sun\, moon\, planets and stars to determine a vessel’s position. With instruments such as a sextant\, navigators could measure the angle between a celestial object and the horizon. Those observations\, combined with accurate time and navigational calculations\, could tell sailors where they were even when there was no land in sight. \nIt was practical knowledge\, not simply astronomy. \nThat connection between the sky and the sea is at the heart of the Treworgy Planetarium\, where Koehler works today. \nThe planetarium at Mystic Seaport Museum was established in 1960 specifically to teach celestial navigation. Its role has expanded considerably since then\, but maritime navigation remains central to its identity. \nIn recent years\, the planetarium has even redesigned its exhibits to tell a broader story of how people around the world have used the sky for navigation and wayfinding. \nBrian Koehler Brings the Planetarium to Stonington\nKoehler has led the Treworgy Planetarium since 2013 and now serves as its Associate Director. \nHis work has emphasized the practical side of astronomy\, particularly the relationship between astronomical observations\, seafaring and navigation. \nKoehler has taught celestial navigation in settings ranging from planetarium programs to hands-on maritime experiences. In October\, he’ll take that instruction onto the water aboard Mystic Seaport Museum’s schooner Brilliant for an overnight program in which participants learn navigation techniques ashore before putting them into practice at sea. \nHe has also presented programs explaining historic navigational instruments and how mariners could chart a course using the sky. \nFor The Night Sky\, that knowledge moves about five miles east from Mystic to a place where celestial navigation has deep local relevance. \nHow Nathaniel Palmer Found His Way Across the World\nHistoric Stonington is using one of the Borough’s most famous mariners to connect the science with local history: Captain Nathaniel Brown Palmer. \nBorn in Stonington in 1799\, Palmer went to sea as a young man during an era when Stonington was deeply connected to sealing\, whaling and international maritime trade. \nIn 1820\, while commanding the small sealing vessel Hero\, the 21-year-old Palmer sailed south from the established sealing grounds into Antarctic waters. He is remembered as one of the early explorers associated with the sighting of the Antarctic continent\, and Palmer Land on the Antarctic Peninsula bears his name. \nGetting there required navigating across thousands of miles of ocean in a world without GPS\, satellites\, radar or electronic charts. \nFor mariners of Palmer’s era\, knowledge of the sky was part of the technology that made voyages across open water possible. \nThe September 10 program brings that history back to Stonington and asks visitors to look at the same sky from the grounds of the community’s old lighthouse. \nA Lighthouse Built for Stonington’s Maritime Era\nThe setting adds another layer to the evening. \nThe present Stonington Lighthouse was built in 1840\, during the maritime world that Koehler will discuss. \nIts stone tower and attached keeper’s dwelling stand at the end of Water Street overlooking Little Narragansett Bay and Fishers Island Sound. The light was eventually taken out of service as navigational needs changed\, and the building later became a museum devoted to Stonington history. \nHistoric Stonington has operated a museum there since 1927. \nFor The Night Sky\, the grounds become an outdoor classroom. \nInstead of learning about celestial navigation beneath a planetarium dome\, visitors will be able to look directly overhead. \nBring a Blanket and Stay Under the Stars\nThe evening is deliberately informal. \nHistoric Stonington is encouraging visitors to bring a blanket and snacks\, settle onto the lighthouse grounds and enjoy the waterfront setting before and after Koehler’s presentation. \nGuests are also invited to raise a glass under the stars. \nThe event begins at 8 p.m.\, with the main celestial-navigation presentation scheduled for 8:30. \nBecause the program takes place outdoors and space is limited\, registration is strongly encouraged. \nThe suggested donation is $25 per blanket\, reduced to $20 for Historic Stonington members. \nIt is the first installment of The Night Sky\, an evening series built around stargazing\, navigation and history at one of Stonington Borough’s most recognizable landmarks. \nEvent Details\nEvent: The Night Sky: Celestial Navigation with Brian Koehler\nDate: Thursday\, September 10\, 2026\nTime: 8–10 p.m.\nPresentation: 8:30 p.m.\nSpeaker: Brian Koehler\, Associate Director of the Treworgy Planetarium at Mystic Seaport Museum\nVenue: Stonington Lighthouse Museum\nAddress: 7 Water Street\, Stonington\, CT 06378\nProgram: Celestial navigation\, maritime history and stargazing\nSuggested Donation: $25 per blanket; $20 for Historic Stonington members\nBring: Blanket and snacks\nRegistration: Strongly encouraged; space is limited \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo register\, 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.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/the-night-sky-at-stonington-lighthouse-museum/
LOCATION:Stonington Lighthouse Museum\, 7 Water Street\, Stonington\, CT\, 06378\, United States
CATEGORIES:Stonington Lighthouse Museum
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/The-Night-Sky-at-Stonington-Lighthouse-Museum.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260911T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260911T223000
DTSTAMP:20260626T233945Z
CREATED:20260513T011926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260626T233945Z
UID:10001497-1789158600-1789165800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center's Stargazing Nights
DESCRIPTION:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center’s Stargazing Nights turn a quiet Friday evening in Ninigret Park into one of the most atmospheric experiences in southern New England. Hosted by Frosty Drew Observatory & Science Center\, the weekly gathering invites visitors to explore the night sky through powerful telescopes while astronomers guide guests across planets\, star clusters\, distant galaxies\, and the glowing band of the Milky Way overhead. Under some of the darkest skies in Rhode Island\, the experience feels less like a formal science program and more like stumbling into a community of people quietly obsessed with the universe. \nAs darkness settles over Ninigret Park\, visitors can expect views that change depending on the season and sky conditions\, often including Saturn’s rings\, Jupiter’s moons\, the cratered surface of the Moon\, and deep space objects rarely visible in brighter suburban areas. The observatory’s Sky Theatre and telescope stations create an immersive environment where curious first-timers mingle with amateur astronomers and longtime stargazers. There’s something strangely calming about standing in near silence while strangers take turns peering into the cosmos\, especially on clear summer nights when the Milky Way stretches visibly across the sky. \nThe observatory typically opens around 8:30 p.m. on Friday nights and remains active through at least 10:30 p.m.\, sometimes later depending on weather and viewing conditions. Because the event is weather dependent\, updates are posted on the day of the event before 3 p.m. Organizers also note that Ninigret Park’s dark sky rules prohibit white light use after dusk in order to protect night vision and sensitive astronomical equipment\, giving the entire area an almost surreal glow of dim red lights and shadowy pathways. Tickets for Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center’s Stargazing Nights can be purchased by clicking the event link below. \nWhen ticket sales open\, a link to purchase / acquire tickets will be added to the “Cost” field on the event page. Once event capacity is reached\, these fields will be listed as “Sold Out“\, and we will be unable to allow entry to any more guests. \nRules and Suggestions:\n• Guests should avoid using white flashlights\, phone flashlights\, or bright screens after dusk\n• Red light flashlights are encouraged to preserve night vision\n• Bug spray is highly recommended during warmer months due to mosquitoes and insects near the wildlife refuge\n• Weather conditions may affect visibility or event operations\n• Children ages 5 and older require tickets\n• Arriving early is recommended for the best viewing opportunities and parking access \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/frosty-drew-observatory-and-science-centers-stargazing-nights/2026-09-11/
LOCATION:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center\, 61-62 Park Lane\, Charlestown\, RI\, 02813\, United States
CATEGORIES:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Frosty-Drew-Observatory-and-Science-Centers-Stargazing-Nights.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260912T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260912T123000
DTSTAMP:20260910T030843Z
CREATED:20260910T030843Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T030843Z
UID:10007535-1789207200-1789216200@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Fall Foraging with Amelia South at DPNC
DESCRIPTION:Fall Foraging with Amelia South at DPNC takes participants off the grocery-store produce aisle and onto the trails of Mystic on Saturday\, September 12\, for a hands-on introduction to identifying and sustainably harvesting wild foods and useful plants. \nThe adult program runs from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and is led by Amelia South\, a Connecticut clinical herbalist\, longtime forager\, and founder of Black Sun Farm in Killingly. \nRather than presenting foraging as simply finding something in the woods that happens to be edible\, South teaches identification\, responsible harvesting\, and the larger skill of learning to recognize the plants growing around us. \nIt’s a skill she’s been developing for about two decades. \nAmelia South Started Foraging in 2006\nSouth describes herself as a clinical herbalist\, foraging instructor\, author\, and founder of Black Sun Farm and the No-BS Herbalist. \nHer relationship with wild food began in 2006\, when she started intentionally foraging. Her interest expanded into herbalism and natural health several years later\, and she began growing food\, preparing herbal products and studying how plants traditionally have been used as both food and medicine. \nToday\, she teaches classes and guided foraging walks around Connecticut. \nSouth received her Clinical Herbalist certification through Heart of Herbs Herbal School in July 2026 and has also studied health sciences. She says she has spent nearly 20 years learning about plants\, food and the human body. \nThat experience is important for a subject where confidence can become dangerous very quickly. \nKnowing that a plant is “probably” something isn’t good enough if you’re planning to eat it. \nForaging Begins With Identification\nOne of the first lessons of responsible foraging is also the least exciting: \nIf you aren’t certain what something is\, don’t eat it. \nPlants and mushrooms can have look-alikes\, and visual similarities that appear insignificant to a beginner can separate an edible species from one that can cause illness. \nSouth’s other foraging programs have specifically addressed how to distinguish edible and medicinal species from potential look-alikes\, moving from instruction into the field so participants can practice identification with actual plants. \nSaturday’s DPNC program puts that lesson directly on the landscape. \nInstead of looking at photographs or specimens on a table\, participants will walk the Nature Center trails and learn to recognize herbs and other edible plants where they actually grow. \nThat means paying attention to more than a flower. \nLeaves\, stems\, bark\, growth patterns\, habitat\, scent\, texture and season can all provide clues. \nOver time\, the goal is to stop seeing an anonymous wall of green. \nFall Changes What’s Available\nA September foraging walk is a very different experience from one held in April or June. \nPlants change through the seasons. \nSpring often emphasizes young greens\, shoots and flowers. By late summer and early fall\, the landscape begins shifting toward fruits\, berries\, nuts\, seeds and roots\, while some familiar plants become easier to identify because they’ve reached a mature stage. \nExactly what participants find Saturday will depend on what is growing along the trails that morning. \nThat’s part of foraging. \nThere is no supermarket inventory sheet guaranteeing that a particular wild food will be waiting on a particular shelf. \nWeather\, habitat\, recent rainfall\, wildlife and the timing of an individual plant all affect what appears. \nA good foraging walk therefore teaches something more transferable than where to find one specific plant. \nIt teaches how to look. \nSustainable Harvesting Means Knowing What to Leave Behind\nFinding an edible plant doesn’t automatically mean it should be picked. \nDPNC specifically describes Saturday’s program as teaching participants how to sustainably harvest wild herbs and other edibles. \nThat’s an important part of modern foraging. \nA responsible harvester considers how abundant a plant is\, which portion is being removed\, whether harvesting will kill it\, how much should be left for reproduction and what role the plant plays in the surrounding ecosystem. \nRoots present an obvious example. Harvesting a few leaves may allow a perennial plant to continue growing. Digging up its root can remove the entire plant. \nSeeds\, berries and nuts are also food for wildlife and part of the plant’s reproductive cycle. \nRare or threatened species shouldn’t become dinner simply because someone has learned to identify them. \nSouth has spoken publicly about approaching wildcrafting with the needs of the plant in mind rather than simply harvesting whenever something can be sold or used. \nThe lesson is straightforward: knowing what you can harvest is only half the skill. \nYou also need to know whether you should. \nSouth Has Taught People to Find Food in Their Own Backyards\nOne of the appealing things about foraging is that it doesn’t necessarily require traveling deep into wilderness. \nAt a June 2026 Wild Ones program in Fairfield County\, South spent nearly two hours walking a four-acre property and identifying edible and traditionally medicinal plants growing there. \nParticipants eventually used some of what they encountered in hands-on demonstrations\, including preparing eggs with sorrel and chickweed and making syrup using shagbark hickory bark. \nThe experience illustrated something beginners frequently discover. \nOnce someone teaches you what to recognize\, plants that previously registered as “weeds” or background vegetation begin acquiring names. \nThe landscape hasn’t changed. \nYour ability to read it has. \nA Nature Center Is a Natural Classroom\nDenison Pequotsepos Nature Center provides an unusually good setting for that kind of lesson. \nDPNC’s protected lands contain forests\, wetlands\, meadows\, ponds and streams\, giving visitors access to multiple southeastern Connecticut habitats within the same trail system. \nMore than 10 miles of trails connect the Nature Center and surrounding protected lands\, including Coogan Farm. \nIndividual routes around the Nature Center pass through markedly different environments. The Meadow Loop includes boardwalks and wetland habitat\, while other trails enter forest\, follow Pequotsepos Brook or pass old granite quarry areas and glacial terrain. \nThat habitat diversity matters to a forager because plants aren’t randomly distributed. \nSome prefer wet ground. \nOthers thrive along disturbed edges. \nSome need open sunlight. \nOthers belong beneath a forest canopy. \nLearning where a plant is likely to grow can eventually become as useful as memorizing what its leaves look like. \nDPNC Has Been Teaching People to Read This Landscape for Decades\nThe foraging walk also fits the broader purpose of Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center. \nThe Mystic nonprofit operates a nature sanctuary\, natural history museum\, wildlife rehabilitation program and environmental education center. \nIts grounds support native wildlife and a substantial bird population\, while the Nature Center cares for non-releasable birds of prey and other animal ambassadors used in education programs. \nDPNC’s programming ranges from birding and wildlife programs to pond exploration\, gardening\, mushroom events\, forest bathing and guided hikes. \nForaging adds another way of understanding the same environment. \nA botanist might look at a plant and think about taxonomy. \nA wildlife biologist might consider what eats it. \nA gardener might think about whether it belongs in a landscape. \nA forager asks another question: \nWhat relationship have people had with this plant? \nForaging Is Part Natural History\, Part Human History\nLong before supermarkets\, refrigeration and year-round produce shipments\, knowing the local landscape wasn’t a hobby. \nIt was knowledge connected directly to food and survival. \nPeople learned when particular plants emerged\, which parts were edible\, when nuts ripened\, where berries grew and which plants could be preserved for later use. \nIndigenous communities developed sophisticated plant knowledge over generations. European settlers arrived with their own traditions and encountered an unfamiliar North American landscape. Later immigrant communities brought additional food and herbal traditions. \nModern foraging draws from many of those histories\, although responsible instruction also requires recognizing that traditional use isn’t the same thing as scientific proof of a medical benefit. \nThat’s especially important when the conversation moves from food into herbal medicine. \nA plant can have a long history of traditional use without being a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. \nFor Saturday’s hike\, the practical starting point is much simpler. \nLearn what’s growing here. \nLearn how to identify it. \nLearn what people have done with it. \nAnd learn how to leave enough behind. \nDon’t Expect a Walk Through a Manicured Garden\nThis is a trail-based outdoor program. \nDPNC’s trails move through natural terrain that can include roots\, rocks\, damp areas and uneven surfaces. September can also mean mosquitoes and ticks remain active. \nClosed-toe walking or hiking shoes make sense\, along with clothing appropriate for the weather. Long pants can provide some protection from ticks and vegetation\, and participants may want water and insect repellent. \nBecause the purpose is identifying plants in their natural habitats\, expect periods of stopping\, looking closely and moving off the pace of an ordinary recreational hike. \nThis isn’t about covering miles. \nA productive foraging walk can spend 15 minutes moving a very short distance because once you begin looking closely\, there can be an extraordinary amount happening in a few yards of trail. \nThe Goal Isn’t to Become a Forager in 2½ Hours\nNobody should leave a single class believing they can safely identify every edible plant in Connecticut. \nThat’s not what makes an introductory foraging walk valuable. \nThe useful first step is learning how identification works. \nLook closely. \nNotice habitat. \nLearn the characteristics that distinguish one species from another. \nUnderstand that common names aren’t enough. \nKnow when a look-alike exists. \nDon’t consume something because an app identified it from a photograph. \nAnd understand that harvesting carries responsibilities beyond whether a plant is technically edible. \nSouth has been intentionally foraging since 2006. \nSaturday morning offers 2½ hours with someone who has spent two decades noticing things most of us walk past. \nAfterward\, the same Mystic trail may look considerably less anonymous. \nDetails\nEvent: Fall Foraging with Amelia South at Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center\nDate: Saturday\, September 12\, 2026\nTime: 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.\nInstructor: Amelia South\nProgram: Guided fall foraging and plant-identification hike\nAges: Adults\nVenue: Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center\nAddress: 109 Pequotsepos Road\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nDPNC Members: $29.75\nNonmembers: $35\nRegistration: Advance registration is required\nSetting: Outdoors on the Nature Center trails\nWhat to Expect: Identification of wild herbs and other edible plants with instruction in sustainable harvesting\nRecommended: Weather-appropriate clothing\, sturdy walking shoes\, water and insect/tick protection\nPhone: 860-536-1216 \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo register\, click the Event Registration 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/fall-foraging-with-amelia-south-at-dpnc/
LOCATION:Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center\, 109 Pequotsepos Road\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Fall-Foraging-with-Amelia-South-at-DPNC.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260912T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260912T130000
DTSTAMP:20260915T022601Z
CREATED:20260910T163942Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260915T022601Z
UID:10007538-1789214400-1789218000@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Kids’ Sing-Along with Steve Elci & Friends
DESCRIPTION:Kids’ Sing-Along with Steve Elci & Friends keeps the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival’s youngest sailors\, mermaids and sea monsters moving Saturday\, September 12\, with a free waterfront concert immediately following the festival’s children’s costume parade. \nThe concert is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at Custom House Pier in downtown New London\, according to the band’s current announcement. Steve Elci & Friends will be joined by costumed characters The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder for a family sing-along built around familiar songs\, dancing and audience participation. \nBut the poster’s “After the Parade!” isn’t just a bit of nautical decoration. \nThere really is a parade. \nEarlier Saturday\, families can head to Fort Trumbull State Park for free face painting\, make costumes\, and then join the Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade\, one of the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival’s signature children’s events. \nThe parade begins at 11:30 a.m. at Fort Trumbull State Park\, according to the festival’s most recent published information. \nThat makes the two events a natural Saturday pairing: dress up and parade through Fort Trumbull in the morning\, then head downtown for music with Steve Elci & Friends. \n11:30 a.m. — Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Take Over Fort Trumbull\nThe festival’s children’s parade isn’t intended to be something families simply stand along the route and watch. \nKids are encouraged to become part of it. \nSaturday morning’s children’s programming at Fort Trumbull includes free face painting and costume making\, giving kids a chance to transform themselves into mermaids\, pirates\, sea monsters and other maritime characters before the parade begins. \nFree face painting is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Fort Trumbull. \nThe festival describes the parade as a combination of local folklore\, music\, dancers\, military marchers and fantastical sea creatures. Earlier festival materials have also called it the Mermaids and Privateers Children’s Walking Parade\, but the current 2026 family programming identifies it as the Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade. \nIt’s a relatively new tradition. \nThe first Mermaids & Sea Monsters Parade was held during the 2022 Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival\, when participants traveled through downtown New London from Bank Street to City Pier. \nBy 2023\, organizers were already calling it the third annual parade. \nFor 2026\, they’ve changed things around. \nInstead of beginning downtown\, this year’s parade is being held at Fort Trumbull State Park\, putting the procession in the middle of the festival’s large family activity area. \nThat also makes it easier for children to create a costume and then immediately become part of the event. \nAfter the Parade\, Steve Elci & Friends Take Over Custom House Pier\nOnce the procession ends\, the party shifts downtown. \nSteve Elci & Friends are scheduled to perform at 12:30 p.m. at Custom House Pier\, with The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder joining them. \nThe concert is free and designed as a participatory children’s sing-along rather than a conventional sit-and-watch performance. \nThe poster gets directly to the point: \n“It’s time to dance and sing to some of your favorite songs!” \nThat’s familiar territory for Elci. \nSteve Elci Has Been Making Music for Kids Since 2010\nNew London County families may already know Steve Elci & Friends\, but the group’s reach extends well beyond southeastern Connecticut. \nThe award-winning children’s music group has been performing since 2010\, taking its shows from New England to Florida and Nashville. \nElci’s approach to children’s music is deliberately interactive. \nThe goal isn’t to place children quietly in front of a stage while adults perform at them. Singing\, dancing\, movement and participation are built into the experience. \nThat philosophy has also carried into the group’s recorded music and educational projects. \nThe Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival describes Steve Elci & Friends as an Emmy-nominated\, award-winning children’s music group\, and there’s a local reason for that Emmy connection. \nKidsploration Put Elci’s Music Together With Education and Adventure\nIn 2014\, Steve Elci & Friends partnered with The Day newspaper to create Kidsploration\, an online children’s program combining music\, education and adventure. \nThe project earned an Emmy nomination. \nIt was a logical extension of what Elci had already been doing onstage. \nChildren’s entertainment can be fun without treating children as passive spectators. Music can become the doorway into exploring something else. \nThat’s particularly appropriate at the Maritime Heritage Festival. \nA child might arrive because there’s a mermaid. \nThen climb aboard a ship. \nTouch a sea creature. \nWatch a Coast Guard rescue demonstration. \nWalk through a Revolutionary War encampment. \nListen to music. \nAnd leave knowing considerably more about the place where they live than when they arrived. \nThe Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder Join the Band\nSaturday’s concert adds two recognizable seafaring characters to that formula. \nThe festival announcement identifies The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder as joining Steve Elci & Friends for the sing-along. \nThe Wayfinder character draws on the Polynesian voyaging tradition popularized for modern children through Disney’s Moana\, while The Little Mermaid brings another familiar ocean story into the program. \nTheir presence connects the morning costume parade with the concert that follows. \nChildren who’ve just spent part of the morning dressed as mermaids\, pirates and sea creatures aren’t suddenly being asked to switch gears. \nThe fantasy continues at the pier. \nCustom House Pier Puts the Concert Beside a Working Harbor\nThe setting is particularly good for a children’s maritime concert. \nCustom House Pier sits on South Water Street beside New London’s downtown waterfront\, looking across the Thames River and New London Harbor. \nThis isn’t a decorative body of water created to make a festival look nautical. \nIt’s a working harbor. \nFerries\, recreational boats\, Coast Guard vessels\, commercial traffic and other ships move through the river\, while Naval Submarine Base New London sits upriver in Groton and the Coast Guard Academy occupies the New London side of the Thames. \nA few steps away is Custom House Maritime Museum – New London Maritime Society\, housed in New London’s 1833 U.S. Custom House. \nSo while kids sing about the sea\, the real thing is directly behind them. \nGetting From the Parade to the Concert Takes a Little Planning\nThere’s one important practical detail for parents. \nThe parade and concert are not at the same location. \nThe Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade takes place at Fort Trumbull State Park\, while Steve Elci & Friends perform afterward at Custom House Pier downtown. \nThe festival has anticipated the problem of moving between its waterfront locations. \nFree transportation operates throughout the weekend. \nVisitors can travel aboard the Thames River Heritage Park water taxi or use the festival’s free shuttle buses connecting the major festival areas. \nThe water taxi operates continuously from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday between Fort Trumbull\, City Pier and Thames River Landing in Groton. There isn’t a fixed departure schedule\, and boarding is first-come\, first-served. \nFamilies trying to make the 12:30 concert immediately after the parade should keep the travel time in mind. \nThe festival recommends parking once and using its free transportation to move between locations rather than repeatedly relocating the car. \nThere’s Plenty More for Kids Before and After the Music\nThe parade and Steve Elci concert are only part of Saturday’s family programming. \nThe festival’s Kids Nautical Zone offers crafts\, games and educational activities. \nProject Oceanology brings marine life close enough for children to explore through its touch-tank programming. \nThere’s also Salt\, a life-size inflatable whale that children can actually walk through while learning about whale biology. \nAt 1:30 p.m.\, shortly after Steve Elci & Friends finish\, the U.S. Coast Guard is scheduled to conduct a search-and-rescue helicopter demonstration over the waterfront. \nFamilies can also tour participating vessels during the day\, including military\, training and historic ships visiting New London for the festival. \nAmong the vessels highlighted for 2026 is the USCGC Eagle\, the Coast Guard’s 295-foot tall ship and training vessel. \nThe Eagle’s presence is particularly significant this year because the Coast Guard Academy is celebrating its 150th anniversary. \nSaturday morning’s festival opening includes the unveiling of a new U.S. Postal Service commemorative stamp honoring that anniversary. \nFor a child who comes because they want their face painted like a mermaid\, there’s a surprising amount of real maritime history waiting around the corner. \nTwo Very Different Parades Happen Saturday\nThere’s also a fun contrast built into Saturday’s schedule. \nThe Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade isn’t the only procession taking place in New London. \nAt 7:30 p.m.\, the tone changes considerably when Flock Theatre begins its annual March of the Traitor on Bank Street. \nThat procession commemorates Benedict Arnold’s devastating 1781 attack on New London and leads to Waterfront Park\, where Arnold is burned in effigy. \nA 300-drone light show over the Thames follows later in the evening. \nSo New London gets two parades in one day. \nAt 11:30 a.m.\, children dressed as mermaids and sea monsters march through Fort Trumbull. \nAt 7:30 p.m.\, adults in Revolutionary-era garb march Benedict Arnold toward his fiery demise. \nThat’s a fairly good illustration of just how much the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival is trying to fit into one Saturday. \nStart With a Costume and Stay for the Ships\nFor families with younger children\, the morning-to-afternoon sequence may be one of the easiest ways to approach what is otherwise an enormous festival. \nGet to Fort Trumbull in time for face painting and costume making. \nJoin the Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade at 11:30. \nThen use festival transportation to head downtown. \nAt 12:30\, Steve Elci & Friends\, The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder take over Custom House Pier. \nAnd when the music ends\, the ships\, touch tanks\, waterfront activities and Coast Guard demonstration are still waiting. \nThe Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival is ostensibly about preserving the state’s relationship with the sea. \nSaturday’s children’s programming approaches that mission from a different direction. \nFirst\, make the sea fun. \nThe history can follow. \nDetails\nEvent: Kids’ Sing-Along with Steve Elci & Friends\nFestival: Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival\nDate: Saturday\, September 12\, 2026\nTime: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.\nPerformers: Steve Elci & Friends with The Little Mermaid and The Wayfinder\nLocation: Custom House Pier\nStreet: South Water Street\, New London\, CT\nAdmission: Free\nAges: All ages / family program\nProgram: Children’s music\, singing and dancing\nRelated Event: Little Mermaids and Sea Monsters Parade\nParade Time: 11:30 a.m.\nParade Location: Fort Trumbull State Park\, 90 Walbach Street\, New London\nBefore the Parade: Free face painting and costume making; face painting is scheduled from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Saturday\nImportant: The parade and concert take place at different festival locations\nTransportation: Free festival shuttle buses and Thames River Heritage Park water taxi service connect festival areas\nWater Taxi Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; continuous service with no fixed departure schedule and first-come\, first-served boarding\nFestival: Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival runs September 12–13 along the New London waterfront\nParking: Festival organizers recommend parking in a downtown Water Street garage or near Fort Trumbull and using the free transportation system between festival locations\nWeather: Outdoor festival programming may be affected by weather; check the festival’s current schedule before traveling \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/kids-sing-along-with-steve-elci-friends/
LOCATION:Custom House Pier\, South Water Street\, New London\, CT\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:Custom House Pier
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Kids-Sing-Along-with-Steve-Elci-Friends.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260912T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260912T190000
DTSTAMP:20260910T041330Z
CREATED:20260910T041117Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T041330Z
UID:10007537-1789221600-1789239600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Songs of the Sea 2026 at Parade Plaza
DESCRIPTION:(This event is part of the CT Maritime Heritage Festival) \nSongs of the Sea 2026 at Parade Plaza brings six acts and four hours of sea songs\, chanteys\, Celtic music and folk punk to Parade Plaza in downtown New London on Saturday\, September 12\, as part of the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival. \nThe free\, all-ages concert runs from 2 to 6:45 p.m. at Parade Plaza\, at State and South Water streets\, with performances scheduled in chronological order from None Of Us Saints\, Littlefield & Morneault\, Marc Bernier\, Hold Fast\, My Druthers and Canadian folk-punk band The Dreadnoughts. \nThere will also be vendors and food trucks around the concert. \nThis isn’t the genteel version of maritime music. \nThe organizers describe what they’ve been trying to create since around 2012 as a free concert of “maritime mayhem” in the middle of New England’s old Whaling City. The lineup deliberately puts veteran chanteymen who have spent decades preserving traditional work songs beside musicians who discovered that those same songs sound remarkably good when played with the attitude of punk rock. \nAnd the progression of Saturday’s lineup tells that story particularly well. \n2–2:30 p.m. — None Of Us Saints\nNone Of Us Saints opens Songs of the Sea at 2 p.m.\, starting the afternoon with a Connecticut group that draws from punk\, Celtic folk and traditional sea-song culture. \nTheir recorded repertoire includes traditional Irish standards such as Seven Drunken Nights and Rocky Road to Dublin\, immediately revealing where at least part of the group’s musical vocabulary comes from. \nBut this isn’t intended as museum-piece folk music. \nThe organizers describe None Of Us Saints as an assemblage of “punks\, Celts\, folksters and sea-songers\,” which is a pretty good introduction to the larger philosophy behind Songs of the Sea. \nMaritime music has survived in part because generations keep changing the way they perform it. \nThe sailors who originally sang work songs aboard commercial vessels weren’t preserving historic music. They were using songs as tools\, entertainment and community. Centuries later\, musicians can retain the choruses and stories while changing the instrumentation\, tempo and attitude around them. \nThat’s the territory None Of Us Saints occupies as the first band of the afternoon. \nPerformance: 2–2:30 p.m. \n2:45–3:15 p.m. — Littlefield & Morneault\nThe afternoon then reaches much deeper into New England’s maritime-music tradition with Littlefield & Morneault. \nDavid Littlefield and Joseph Morneault perform ballads\, maritime music and songs connected to local history\, but both bring considerably more than a repertoire of old songs to the stage. \nLittlefield worked for 24 years at Mystic Seaport Museum\, where he served as a chanteyman and interpreter of historic vessels and exhibits. \nHe became particularly interested in the lives of ordinary sailors aboard American whaleships and conducted extensive research into the Charles W. Morgan\, the last surviving wooden whaleship from the American whaling fleet. \nLittlefield also spent 15 summers aboard the schooner Mystic Whaler performing maritime music. \nAnd he was a member of Forebitter\, the influential group of Mystic Seaport chanteymen whose recordings and performances helped carry traditional American maritime music well beyond southeastern Connecticut. Forebitter performed internationally\, and Littlefield’s own maritime compositions have been performed by musicians in the United States and Europe. \nHis partner Joseph Morneault approaches the tradition as both musician and historian. \nMorneault is a social historian and author specializing in the late 18th century and serves as president of the Maritime Music & Tradition Society\, the organization behind the Connecticut Sea Music Festival in Essex. \nHe can also regularly be heard at the Griswold Inn’s long-running Monday night sea music gatherings in Essex. \nTogether\, Littlefield & Morneault represent something important in the middle of a festival filled with punk musicians. \nThese are people who know where the songs came from. \nPerformance: 2:45–3:15 p.m. \n3:30–4:05 p.m. — Marc Bernier\nIf southeastern Connecticut has an old guard of maritime musicians\, Marc Bernier belongs firmly within it. \nBernier spent more than 30 years working at Mystic Seaport Museum\, including five years as one of its chanteymen. \nBut his connection to maritime music didn’t end on a museum stage. \nHe’s worked as a musician and educator with the Clearwater program on the Hudson River and has actually gone to sea aboard traditional sailing vessels\, working as a cook\, deckhand and entertainer from Maine to the Chesapeake Bay. \nThat experience matters when singing chanteys. \nA sea chantey wasn’t originally a song about sailing. \nIt was a song used while working aboard a ship. \nDifferent chanteys were suited to different jobs. The rhythm helped sailors coordinate physical labor\, whether hauling together on a line or performing other repetitive tasks that required a crew to move at the same moment. \nA chanteyman led the song and the crew answered. \nBernier has spent decades studying and performing that tradition. \nHis repertoire extends well beyond sea music\, however. He performs Irish tunes and songs\, American folk music\, pub and drinking songs and instrumental music\, accompanying himself on guitar\, mandolin and tenor banjo. \nHe’s also an accomplished percussionist who plays bodhrán in Irish music and frottior\, or rubboard\, with Cajun and Zydeco musicians. \nThen there’s another Connecticut tradition in his background. \nBernier has been involved in the state’s fife-and-drum community since his teenage years and has performed as a fifer across North America and Europe. \nAt 3:30\, Songs of the Sea essentially hands the microphone to someone whose life connects several of the musical traditions the festival is celebrating. \nPerformance: 3:30–4:05 p.m. \n4:20–4:55 p.m. — Hold Fast\nAt 4:20\, somebody turns up the volume. \nHold Fast comes from Harrisburg\, Pennsylvania\, and takes traditional Irish music into Celtic-punk territory. \nThe band’s approach combines Irish traditional material with original songs\, electric rock instrumentation and punk energy. Even when Hold Fast performs acoustically\, speed and rhythm remain central to its sound. \nTheir repertoire provides a useful illustration of just how freely this musical world can cross boundaries. \nHold Fast has recorded a mashup of Rancid’s punk standard Ruby Soho and Sloop John B\, a traditional song with roots extending back well before the Beach Boys made their version famous in 1966. \nThat combination might sound strange on paper. \nAt Songs of the Sea\, it makes perfect sense. \nCeltic punk has spent decades doing something very similar\, taking traditional melodies\, fiddles\, whistles\, drinking songs and historical ballads and putting them alongside distorted guitars and drums. \nThe Pogues helped establish the possibilities in the 1980s. Later bands pushed the combination in different directions. \nHold Fast carries that idea into the second half of Saturday’s concert. \nAfter more than two hours rooted heavily in traditional sea music and folk\, the afternoon starts moving toward punk. \nPerformance: 4:20–4:55 p.m. \n5:10–5:45 p.m. — My Druthers\nThen the festival gets very local. \nMy Druthers is a New London band led by Stuart Fensom\, built as a rotating collective of musicians playing sea chanteys\, maritime songs\, Irish rebel music and working-class folk with punk-rock energy. \nThey are also one of the clearest examples of why Songs of the Sea belongs in New London. \nFensom comes from the punk scene\, but the band treats traditional music less as a historical curiosity than as an earlier version of working-class music. \nSongs about dangerous jobs\, lousy bosses\, drinking\, rebellion\, leaving home\, missing home and dying far away from it aren’t exactly alien concepts to punk. \nMy Druthers simply shortens the distance between the traditions. \nThe rotating lineup can include guitar\, fiddle\, banjo and mandolin alongside multiple voices\, and the group has appeared at punk shows\, pubs\, Celtic festivals\, maritime gatherings and chantey events around New England. \nTheir 2025 debut album\, Coming Up 3’s\, was produced by Pete Steinkopf of The Bouncing Souls\, providing another direct connection between New London’s sea-song scene and American punk. \nMy Druthers also keeps maritime music active locally rather than saving it for festival weekends. The group has hosted and appeared at sea-shanty nights at New London’s Oasis Pub\, including performances with other regional traditional and maritime musicians. \nThe organizers affectionately describe them as New London’s “punks\, drunks\, stowaways\, & shantymen.” \nBy 5:10 Saturday afternoon\, that may require very little additional explanation. \nPerformance: 5:10–5:45 p.m. \n6–6:45 p.m. — The Dreadnoughts\nThe final band takes the basic premise behind the entire afternoon and pushes it about as far as it can go. \nThe Dreadnoughts formed in Vancouver\, British Columbia\, in 2006 and built an international following by combining street punk with sea chanteys\, Celtic music\, polka\, klezmer and other European folk traditions. \nIt’s an improbable mixture until you hear it. \nThen it becomes difficult to imagine why somebody hadn’t done it sooner. \nThe band traces its beginnings to Vancouver’s Ivanhoe Hotel and originally set out to combine traditional European folk music with punk. Over the following two decades\, The Dreadnoughts toured internationally\, playing hundreds of shows across roughly 30 countries. \nThey’ve released a catalog that demonstrates how seriously they take both halves of “folk punk.” \nPolka’s Not Dead includes Randy Dandy-Oh alongside the band’s punked-up polkas and originals. \nForeign Skies is an ambitious concept album built around stories of the First World War\, moving among chanteys\, Balkan music\, klezmer\, polka and punk. \nInto the North leaned heavily into nautical music. \nRoll and Go continued the band’s relationship with traditional maritime song\, and Green Willow returned to folk material through the group’s distinctly loud interpretation of it. \nThe band’s maritime work isn’t simply punk songs with pirate imagery attached. \nThe Dreadnoughts have spent years performing actual traditional nautical material\, including songs such as Roll the Woodpile Down and Eliza Lee. Their original maritime songs have themselves begun moving through the folk community and being recorded by other sea-music performers. \nMore recently\, with members relocating to New York\, The Dreadnoughts developed an a cappella version of the group devoted specifically to traditional nautical music. \nThat makes them an unusually appropriate closer. \nSaturday begins with Connecticut musicians mixing punk and folk\, moves through performers directly connected to Mystic Seaport’s historic chantey tradition\, turns toward Celtic punk and New London’s own maritime-punk scene\, and finishes with a band that has carried essentially the same musical collision around the world. \nPerformance: 6–6:45 p.m. \nWhy Sea Chanteys Sound So Good With Punk Rock\nThere’s a reason so many of these musicians can move between maritime music and punk without the combination feeling forced. \nChanteys were communal music. \nThey generally weren’t intended to showcase a virtuoso singer while everyone else stood silently listening. \nA leader called. \nThe crew responded. \nThe chorus belonged to everybody. \nThe music had to be rhythmic\, memorable and loud enough to work in a difficult environment. \nStrip away the historical distance and some of the underlying principles don’t sound terribly far removed from a crowded punk show. \nBoth traditions also contain plenty of songs about people on the margins of polite society. \nSailors\, laborers\, emigrants\, soldiers\, drinkers\, prisoners\, rebels and people trying to survive hard circumstances populate traditional folk music. \nPunk simply arrived later with electric guitars. \nSongs of the Sea puts both traditions on the same stage. \nNew London Is More Than a Convenient Backdrop\nCalling New London the Whaling City isn’t a modern marketing invention. \nThe city’s maritime history stretches across centuries of commercial shipping\, whaling\, naval activity\, fishing and shipbuilding. During the 19th century\, New London developed into one of America’s important whaling ports. \nThe Thames River remains central to the region’s maritime identity today. \nThe U.S. Coast Guard Academy sits upriver in New London. Naval Submarine Base New London is across the river in Groton. The historic ship Nautilus and Submarine Force Museum sit farther north\, while ferries\, commercial vessels\, Coast Guard ships\, recreational boats and submarines continue moving through the river. \nThat makes Parade Plaza an appropriate place to sing songs originally created by people whose lives revolved around ships. \nIt’s also why Songs of the Sea fits so naturally into the larger Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival taking place across New London’s waterfront Saturday and Sunday. \nOne Concert Inside a Much Larger Maritime Weekend\nSongs of the Sea occupies the afternoon\, but the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival begins hours earlier. \nSaturday’s official festival schedule starts at 10 a.m. with an opening ceremony and a presentation marking the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a new commemorative U.S. Postal Service stamp. \nThroughout the day\, visitors can tour vessels\, visit vendors\, explore children’s activities and use free transportation connecting festival locations around the harbor. \nFree hop-on/hop-off harbor cruises run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.\, connecting Fort Trumbull\, City Pier\, the Nautilus area and Groton. \nOther Saturday activities include a children’s Mermaid & Privateer Walking Parade at 11:30 a.m.\, a noon kids’ sing-along\, a Coast Guard search-and-rescue helicopter demonstration at 1:30 p.m. and other music and programming around the waterfront. \nThe festival then continues after Songs of the Sea finishes. \nAt 7:30 p.m.\, the March of the Traitor begins on Bank Street as Flock Theatre revives New London’s tradition of burning Benedict Arnold in effigy. The procession leads toward Waterfront Park\, where the burning is scheduled from 8 to 8:15 p.m. \nA 300-drone light show over the Thames River follows at approximately 8:15 p.m. \nThe festival returns Sunday with another full day of vessel tours\, maritime programming\, a children’s fishing clinic\, Discovering Amistad programs and the Navy-versus-Coast Guard Sea-Service Showdown. \nSongs That Once Worked Ships Now Build Community\nThere is a nice bit of continuity in what Songs of the Sea is trying to accomplish. \nThe original chanteys existed partly because a group of people needed to act together. \nOne person sang a line. \nEveryone answered. \nThe song turned individuals into a crew\, at least for the duration of the work. \nSaturday’s organizers are explicit that community remains part of the point. \nThey’ve envisioned a free\, all-ages maritime concert in downtown New London since around 2012. The emphasis isn’t on exclusivity or musical purity. Veteran chanteymen share a bill with punk musicians. Traditional songs coexist with electric guitars. People who know every chorus can sing beside people hearing a sea chantey for the first time. \nAnd admission costs nothing. \nIn a city whose identity has been tied to the sea for centuries\, that may be a more authentic way to keep maritime music alive than treating it as something that ended when the last commercial sailing ships disappeared. \nAt 2 p.m.\, None Of Us Saints starts the music. \nBy 6 p.m.\, one of the world’s better-known folk-punk bands takes over. \nIn between\, several generations of New England’s maritime-music tradition get 30 or 35 minutes apiece to demonstrate that sea songs aren’t finished yet. \nDetails\nEvent: Songs of the Sea 2026\nFestival: Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival\nDate: Saturday\, September 12\, 2026\nConcert Time: 2–6:45 p.m.\nLocation: Parade Plaza\nIntersection: State Street and South Water Street\, New London\, CT\nAdmission: Free\nAges: All ages\nSetting: Outdoor concert in downtown New London\nFood: Food truck options are planned\nVendors: A selection of vendors will be on site \nPerformance Schedule:\n2–2:30 p.m. — None Of Us Saints\n2:45–3:15 p.m. — Littlefield & Morneault\n3:30–4:05 p.m. — Marc Bernier\n4:20–4:55 p.m. — Hold Fast\n5:10–5:45 p.m. — My Druthers\n6–6:45 p.m. — The Dreadnoughts \nConnecticut Maritime Heritage Festival: September 12–13 at New London Waterfront Park\, Fort Trumbull State Park and other downtown/waterfront locations\nFestival Hours Saturday: Main daytime activities begin at 10 a.m.; evening programming continues until approximately 8:30 p.m.\nTransportation: Free festival shuttle service and hop-on/hop-off harbor transportation connect festival locations during the day\nSaturday Evening: March of the Traitor at 7:30 p.m.; Burning of Benedict Arnold from approximately 8–8:15 p.m.; 300-drone light show follows over the Thames River\nParking: Festival organizers recommend downtown Water Street garages or street parking near Fort Trumbull\, then using free festival transportation between locations \nMore information is available at the Event Website links 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 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/songs-of-the-sea-2026-at-parade-plaza/
LOCATION:Parade Plaza\, State Street &\, S Water St\, New London\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:Parade Plaza
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Songs-of-the-Sea-2026-at-Parade-Plaza.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260912T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260912T193000
DTSTAMP:20260817T215904Z
CREATED:20260817T215904Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T215904Z
UID:10007214-1789227000-1789241400@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Westerly Land Trust Farm Dinner Celebrates Local Food at Barlow Nature Preserve
DESCRIPTION:[The dinner is sold out\, but you can register on a waitlist by clicking the Event Ticketing link at the bottom of the page] \nWesterly Land Trust Farm Dinner returns to Barlow Nature Preserve on Saturday\, September 12\, bringing guests together for an outdoor meal built around locally grown food and the land that produced it. \nThe annual dinner begins at 3:30 p.m. at the 80-acre preserve on Westerly Bradford Road. This isn’t simply dinner with a pretty farm as the backdrop. The location is part of the story. \nBarlow Nature Preserve has become a working example of the Westerly Land Trust’s efforts to connect conservation\, sustainable agriculture and the community. The property is home to Frontier Farm and Echo Rock Flowers\, and ingredients grown locally will make their way onto the dinner table. \nThis year’s meal will be prepared by husband-and-wife chefs Johan Jensen and Abbey Hemmann\, the team behind Whitecrest Eatery and Backdoor Kitchen. \nFrom Preserved Land to Working Farm\nThe story of Barlow Nature Preserve begins well before the first dinner table is set. \nThe 80-acre property became the Eleanor F. & Edward W. Barlow Nature Preserve following a bequest from Eleanor Barlow in 2018. The land contains an unusually diverse combination of agricultural fields\, upland forest and extensive freshwater wetlands and sits beside Rhode Island’s 111-acre Newton Swamp Management Area. \nRather than simply preserve the property and leave it untouched\, the Westerly Land Trust saw an opportunity. \nThe organization decided to make Barlow its headquarters while also returning part of the property to active agriculture. The existing farmhouse was renovated into office space in 2019\, and young local farmers were invited onto the land to begin rebuilding its agricultural life. \nToday\, that work can be seen in the fields surrounding the Farm Dinner. \nFarming With Conservation in Mind\nOnly about five acres of the 80-acre preserve are suitable for farming\, according to reporting by ecoRI News. That farmland is now used by Frontier Farm and Echo Rock Flowers\, which employ regenerative growing practices. \nFrontier Farm moved to Barlow in 2019 and developed a 2.5-acre commercial farm there. The farm grows vegetables\, fruits and herbs without synthetic chemicals or fertilizers and uses regenerative and no-till methods whenever possible. \nThat’s particularly important at Barlow because of what’s beyond the cultivated fields. \nThe property contains extensive freshwater wetlands adjoining Newton Swamp. Protecting soil and limiting agricultural runoff were important considerations when farming was reintroduced. The Land Trust worked with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service on irrigation and water infrastructure while its farmers committed to environmentally responsible soil-management practices. \nIn other words\, the vegetables growing here aren’t separate from the Land Trust’s conservation work. They’re part of it. \nThe Farms Behind the Dinner\nGuests at the Farm Dinner will be eating in the same landscape where food and flowers are being grown throughout the season. \nFrontier Farm focuses on sustainably grown produce\, while Echo Rock Flowers fills another part of the property with locally grown cut flowers. \nThe two farms also operate the seasonal Barlow Farm Stand\, selling produce and flowers grown on the preserve along with products from other area farms. For 2026\, the stand operates on an honor system and accepts cash and Venmo. \nThe Land Trust has increasingly used Barlow as a place where people can experience agriculture rather than simply read about it. Its Farm Squad children’s program\, for example\, introduces kids to planting\, pollinators\, soil health\, harvesting\, composting and farm biodiversity right on the property. \nThat makes the Farm Dinner something of a culmination of the growing season: people gathering around a table on land they’ve watched produce food throughout the summer. \nDinner by Whitecrest Eatery and Backdoor Kitchen\nFor the 2026 Farm Dinner\, Westerly Land Trust has invited chefs Johan Jensen and Abbey Hemmann to prepare the menu. \nThe husband-and-wife team is behind Whitecrest Eatery and Backdoor Kitchen and will create the meal around local ingredients. \nJensen is known for globally influenced cooking and an approach that puts flavor ahead of unnecessary formality. Hemmann brings an equally important ingredient to the evening: hospitality. \nThe result should fit the setting particularly well. This isn’t intended to feel like a restaurant dining room transplanted into a field. The idea is to gather around a table with neighbors\, eat food connected to the surrounding landscape and celebrate the people preserving and working that land. \nMore Than 80 Acres to Protect\nBarlow represents only one piece of a much larger conservation effort. \nThe Westerly Land Trust\, established in 1987\, now protects more than 1\,900 acres of forests\, wetlands\, grasslands and agricultural fields throughout Westerly. Its properties are used not only for conservation but also for public recreation\, environmental education and community programs. \nThe Farm Dinner celebrates that work while helping connect the people supporting conservation with the places being protected. \nAnd Barlow is particularly suited to telling that story because visitors can see several pieces of it at once: cultivated fields\, working farmers\, woods\, wetlands and trails all occupying the same protected landscape. \nExplore Barlow Nature Preserve\nThe dinner might also introduce some guests to a preserve worth returning to another day. \nBarlow Nature Preserve has two separate trail systems\, with routes through woods and along the agricultural portions of the property. \nOne trail area overlooks the hayfield and working farm\, with several trees identified by species. Another runs near Newton Swamp\, offering a more wooded walk with wetland and marsh views. \nVisitors heading toward the farm stand will also find a Little Free Library devoted to nature books. There’s even a hidden compartment on the back containing seeds visitors can take home. \nIt’s a small detail\, but it captures what Barlow has become: not simply land saved from development\, but land being actively used to get people interested in farming\, nature and conservation. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Westerly Land Trust Farm Dinner\nDate: Saturday\, September 12\, 2026\nTime: 3:30–7:30 p.m.\nLocation: Barlow Nature Preserve\nAddress: 449 Westerly Bradford Road\, Westerly\, RI\nChefs: Johan Jensen and Abbey Hemmann\nFeaturing: A locally sourced dinner celebrating Westerly’s farms and conserved land \nMore information is available at the Event Website link at the bottom of the page. \nYou can register to be put on a waitlist by clicking the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/westerly-land-trust-farm-dinner-celebrates-local-food-at-barlow-nature-preserve/
LOCATION:Barlow Nature Preserve\, 449 Westerly Bradford Road\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:Barlow Nature Preserve
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Westerly-Land-Trust-Farm-Dinner-Celebrates-Local-Food-at-Barlow-Nature-Preserve.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260918T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260918T210000
DTSTAMP:20260921T030407Z
CREATED:20260911T222131Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260921T030407Z
UID:10007546-1789754400-1789765200@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:54th Brewfest at Ocean Beach Park
DESCRIPTION:54th Brewfest at the Beach returns to the Ocean Beach Park boardwalk Friday\, September 18\, with three hours of beer and beverage sampling\, food and live music from southeastern Connecticut favorite Wicked Peach\, all while raising money for the New London Rotary Foundation. \nThe 21-and-over fundraiser runs from 6 to 9 p.m. overlooking Long Island Sound\, with advance admission priced at $30 plus fees. Each ticket includes 15 sampling tickets\, beer-friendly food and entertainment. \nAnd the entertainment this year is a band that should need very little introduction around New London. \nWicked Peach Takes the Beach\nWicked Peach has been playing rock\, pop-rock and radio favorites around southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island since 1996. \nThree decades is an unusually long run for a regional cover band\, particularly one that continues to maintain a busy performance calendar. \nThe current lineup features Ernie Lewis on lead vocals and guitar\, Dan Watson on lead guitar and vocals\, Corey Carter on guitar\, Stan Smith on bass and Jonathan Souza on drums. \nRather than concentrating on a single decade or artist\, Wicked Peach builds its shows around recognizable rock and pop-rock songs\, the kind of material designed to keep a crowd moving rather than standing around quietly analyzing a beer sample. \nThat makes the band a particularly natural fit for Brewfest. \nThis isn’t intended to be a hushed tasting event. \nIt’s a Friday night party on the Ocean Beach boardwalk. \nFifteen Samples Come With Admission\nThe Brewfest format gives guests a chance to work their way through different beers and other beverages rather than committing to a full serving of each. \nAdmission includes 15 sampling tickets. \nOrganizers describe the selection as encompassing hundreds of beers and other beverages\, although the complete 2026 participating brewery list had not yet been published when this event was researched. \nThat’s worth keeping in mind. \nThe tasting lineup is still developing\, so anyone primarily interested in a particular brewery or beer should check the event page as September 18 approaches rather than assuming a previous year’s participant will return. \nThere will also be beer-friendly food included with admission. \nOne of New London’s Longest-Running Fundraisers\nThe number on this year’s poster is remarkable. \nFifty-four. \nBrewfest at the Beach isn’t a recent craft-beer festival created during the brewery boom of the last couple of decades. It is a longstanding New London Rotary fundraising tradition that predates the modern American craft-beer movement. \nThe New London Rotary Foundation uses proceeds from events like Brewfest to support charitable and community work locally\, regionally and beyond. \nAmong the programs and organizations supported by New London Rotary are the New London Community Meal Center\, Little Free Libraries\, youth programs and Student of the Year recognition for New London schools. \nThe club’s broader community work has included Camp Rotary\, senior programs\, Thanksgiving food assistance\, playground projects and grants to area nonprofits. \nInternationally\, New London Rotary has also supported humanitarian and educational projects involving clean water\, sanitation\, health care\, schools and disaster relief. \nSo those 15 tasting tickets are doing a little more than determining what you want in your next pint. \nRotary Has Left Its Mark Around New London\nThe Rotary Club of New London’s relationship with the city extends beyond fundraising. \nThe organization has participated in projects including the Rotary Centennial Playground at Toby May Park\, the Centennial Pavilion at Ocean Beach Park\, restoration work involving the city’s trolley station visitor center and the nautical-flag welcome sign in New London. \nThat makes Ocean Beach a fitting location for one of the organization’s signature fundraisers. \nThe event raises money for community projects in a place where Rotary has already invested in the community. \nOcean Beach After Summer\nThere’s also something appealing about getting another night out of Ocean Beach after the traditional beach season has ended. \nThe park’s summer rhythm changes dramatically after Labor Day. \nThe crowds thin. \nMost families are back into school schedules. \nThe September sun starts setting noticeably earlier. \nBut the boardwalk is still there\, and Long Island Sound hasn’t gone anywhere. \nBrewfest takes advantage of that shoulder season by turning the boardwalk into an outdoor tasting venue. \nRather than fluorescent lights and a convention-hall floor\, the backdrop is the beach and Sound. \nOrganizers specifically describe the event as taking place under the stars on the Ocean Beach boardwalk. \nProvided\, of course\, that the weather cooperates. \nRain Doesn’t Cancel Brewfest\nThis one is rain or shine. \nIf rain threatens the outdoor event\, Brewfest moves into the Ocean Beach Pavilion at the west end of the boardwalk. \nThat’s an important distinction from outdoor festivals where questionable weather can mean spending Friday repeatedly checking social media for a cancellation announcement. \nThe New London Rotary Foundation already has the backup plan. \nBoardwalk if the weather behaves. \nPavilion if it doesn’t. \nThe Ticket Price Includes More Than the Tastings\nAdvance tickets are listed at $30 before online service fees. \nThe current ticketing system brings the online advance purchase total to $33.76 including fees. \nDay-of-event admission is $35 before fees\, with the ticketing site currently showing a $39.07 total when purchased online. \nBoth include the same basic package: 15 sampling tickets\, food and entertainment. \nTickets are limited\, including the number available at the door. \nFor anyone already planning to attend\, buying in advance saves a few dollars and eliminates the gamble over whether walk-up tickets remain. \nThis Is Strictly 21+\nUnlike most Ocean Beach events\, Brewfest isn’t a family night. \nEveryone entering must be at least 21 years old\, and organizers require a valid state-issued ID at the gate. \nThe rule applies to entry itself\, not simply to alcohol sampling. \nThat’s important for anyone thinking a non-drinking spouse\, designated driver or younger adult could simply accompany the group without participating in the tastings. \nThe published event policy says attendees must be 21 to enter. \nAnd with 15 tasting tickets available\, planning the ride home before the first sample is a considerably better strategy than working it out after the fifteenth. \nWicked Peach Turns the Tasting Into a Party\nThe live music is what should push this year’s Brewfest beyond a simple walk from tasting table to tasting table. \nWicked Peach is built for this kind of crowd. \nThe New London-based band has spent decades playing casinos\, beach bars\, festivals\, clubs and community events throughout the region. Its repertoire favors familiar songs and high-energy rock rather than obscure material that requires an attentive listening room. \nThe band describes itself simply as New England’s ultimate rock cover band\, playing rock\, pop-rock and rock hits. \nFor Brewfest\, that’s probably the right formula. \nSample something you’ve never tried. \nFind some food. \nHead toward the music. \nGo back for another sample. \nRepeat as necessary. \nA Friday Night Fundraiser That Doesn’t Feel Like One\nPlenty of charitable fundraisers ask supporters to dress up\, sit through dinner and listen to speeches. \nBrewfest at the Beach has survived for more than half a century using a different approach. \nPut people on the Ocean Beach boardwalk. \nGive them a wide selection of things to taste. \nFeed them. \nBring in a local rock band. \nThen direct the money raised back into community service. \nThe charitable purpose is serious. \nThe evening doesn’t have to be. \nDetails\nEvent: 54th Brewfest at the Beach\nDate: Friday\, September 18\, 2026\nTime: 6–9 p.m.\nVenue: Ocean Beach Park\nAddress: 98 Neptune Avenue\, New London\, CT 06320\nLocation in Park: Ocean Beach boardwalk\nPresented By: New London Rotary Foundation\nAge: 21+ only\nID: Valid state-issued identification required for entry\nAdvance Admission: $30 plus ticketing fees; currently $33.76 online\nDay-of Admission: $35 plus applicable fees; currently $39.07 through the online ticketing system\nIncluded: 15 beverage sampling tickets\, beer-friendly food and live entertainment\nLive Music: Wicked Peach\nWicked Peach Lineup: Ernie Lewis\, lead vocals/guitar; Dan Watson\, lead guitar/vocals; Corey Carter\, guitar; Stan Smith\, bass; Jonathan Souza\, drums\nWeather: Rain or shine\nRain Location: Ocean Beach Pavilion at the west end of the boardwalk\nTickets: Limited advance and day-of tickets are available\nRefunds: Ticket sales are final unless the event is canceled\nBeneficiary: New London Rotary Foundation and its charitable programs\nOcean Beach Phone: 860-447-3031 \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.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/54th-brewfest-at-the-beach/
LOCATION:Ocean Beach Park\, 98 Neptune Avenue\, New London\, CT\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:Ocean Beach Park
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/54th-Brewfest-at-the-Beach.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260918T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260918T223000
DTSTAMP:20260626T233945Z
CREATED:20260513T011926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260626T233945Z
UID:10001498-1789763400-1789770600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center's Stargazing Nights
DESCRIPTION:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center’s Stargazing Nights turn a quiet Friday evening in Ninigret Park into one of the most atmospheric experiences in southern New England. Hosted by Frosty Drew Observatory & Science Center\, the weekly gathering invites visitors to explore the night sky through powerful telescopes while astronomers guide guests across planets\, star clusters\, distant galaxies\, and the glowing band of the Milky Way overhead. Under some of the darkest skies in Rhode Island\, the experience feels less like a formal science program and more like stumbling into a community of people quietly obsessed with the universe. \nAs darkness settles over Ninigret Park\, visitors can expect views that change depending on the season and sky conditions\, often including Saturn’s rings\, Jupiter’s moons\, the cratered surface of the Moon\, and deep space objects rarely visible in brighter suburban areas. The observatory’s Sky Theatre and telescope stations create an immersive environment where curious first-timers mingle with amateur astronomers and longtime stargazers. There’s something strangely calming about standing in near silence while strangers take turns peering into the cosmos\, especially on clear summer nights when the Milky Way stretches visibly across the sky. \nThe observatory typically opens around 8:30 p.m. on Friday nights and remains active through at least 10:30 p.m.\, sometimes later depending on weather and viewing conditions. Because the event is weather dependent\, updates are posted on the day of the event before 3 p.m. Organizers also note that Ninigret Park’s dark sky rules prohibit white light use after dusk in order to protect night vision and sensitive astronomical equipment\, giving the entire area an almost surreal glow of dim red lights and shadowy pathways. Tickets for Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center’s Stargazing Nights can be purchased by clicking the event link below. \nWhen ticket sales open\, a link to purchase / acquire tickets will be added to the “Cost” field on the event page. Once event capacity is reached\, these fields will be listed as “Sold Out“\, and we will be unable to allow entry to any more guests. \nRules and Suggestions:\n• Guests should avoid using white flashlights\, phone flashlights\, or bright screens after dusk\n• Red light flashlights are encouraged to preserve night vision\n• Bug spray is highly recommended during warmer months due to mosquitoes and insects near the wildlife refuge\n• Weather conditions may affect visibility or event operations\n• Children ages 5 and older require tickets\n• Arriving early is recommended for the best viewing opportunities and parking access \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/frosty-drew-observatory-and-science-centers-stargazing-nights/2026-09-18/
LOCATION:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center\, 61-62 Park Lane\, Charlestown\, RI\, 02813\, United States
CATEGORIES:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Frosty-Drew-Observatory-and-Science-Centers-Stargazing-Nights.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260919T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260919T173000
DTSTAMP:20260915T010603Z
CREATED:20260915T010603Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260915T010603Z
UID:10007605-1789812000-1789839000@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Waterfest 2026 Brings Paddling\, Indigenous Music\, Art and a Community Conversation to Long Pond
DESCRIPTION:Waterfest 2026 brings a full day of paddling\, swimming\, music\, art\, environmental learning\, and community conversation to Long Pond in Ledyard on Saturday\, September 19\, with this year’s festival built around a deceptively simple theme: Water Inspires. \nThe Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed’s free annual gathering takes place at 79 Homestead Road\, along a part of the watershed where recreation\, Indigenous history\, wildlife habitat and some very modern questions about flooding and climate resilience all converge. \nThe main Waterfest program begins at 10 a.m.\, with an optional Native-led Lantern Hill hike beginning earlier at 8 a.m. The day’s scheduled activities continue through 4 p.m.\, followed by event cleanup through 5:30. \nAnd this isn’t a festival where the water merely provides the scenery. \nParticipants can get onto Long Pond\, learn how to keep invasive species from hitching a ride on their boats\, paddle toward the site of a proposed fishway\, hear Indigenous music and poetry\, and participate in discussions about what should happen to this landscape in the future. \nWaterfest Is Free for a Reason\nThe Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed describes Waterfest as one of its two signature free community learning events\, along with Springfest. \nThe organization deliberately mixes environmental education with recreation\, arts\, food and conversation. \nWaterfest isn’t intended to feel like a conference about water. \nIt’s meant to get people interacting with it. \nThis year’s “Water Inspires” theme looks at the different ways water can inspire life\, creativity\, learning\, collaboration and movement. \nThat means swimming and paddling belong beside environmental exhibits. Music and poetry belong beside discussions about flood control. Art belongs beside habitat restoration. \nAdmission is free\, although the Alliance is asking anyone who can contribute to consider making a donation toward the cost of producing Waterfest and its ongoing watershed work. \nThe Day Can Start on Top of Lantern Hill\nFor early risers\, Waterfest actually begins two hours before the main program. \nAn optional Native-led hike on Lantern Hill starts at 8 a.m. \nHikers should meet and sign in at the Two Trees Inn parking lot at 7:45 a.m. \nLantern Hill is far more than a convenient place to get a good view. \nThe quartzite ridge rises dramatically above the surrounding ponds and wetlands and is one of the defining natural landmarks of the upper Mystic River watershed. \nThe hill and surrounding landscape also carry deep cultural significance for the Mashantucket Pequot people. \nBeginning Waterfest there provides a different perspective on everything that follows. \nFrom high ground\, water becomes part of a system rather than an isolated pond. \nLong Pond Is Near the Top of the Mystic River Watershed\nWaterfest’s location helps explain much of the day’s programming. \nThe Mystic River doesn’t simply begin somewhere near downtown Mystic and flow toward the sea. \nIts watershed reaches north through portions of Groton\, Stonington\, Ledyard and North Stonington\, as well as the lands of the Mashantucket Pequot and Eastern Pequot Tribal Nations. \nIn the upper watershed\, water flows through a landscape of forested hills\, wetlands and ponds around Lantern Hill. \nLong Pond is one of the important pieces of that system. \nThe pond covers roughly 100 acres and reaches a maximum depth of about 72 feet. Water leaving its southern end flows into Whitford Brook and eventually continues toward the Mystic River and Long Island Sound. \nSo what happens around Long Pond doesn’t necessarily stay around Long Pond. \nThat’s the basic idea behind a watershed. \nYootay Singers Open the Main Program\nAt 10 a.m.\, the Yootay Singers will help open Waterfest\, followed by welcomes\, introductions and instructions for the day. \nIndigenous participation isn’t an ornamental addition to the festival. \nThe Alliance itself is structured around collaboration among the four watershed municipalities and the Eastern Pequot and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nations. \nThat partnership carries through the day’s schedule. \nLater in the afternoon\, Rashad Young of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation will perform on flute\, followed by poetry from Derrick Strong of the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation. \nYoung is the Language Director for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and serves on the Alliance’s Co-Leadership Board. \nHe’s also a traditional artisan. \nHis work includes making Native flutes\, pipes\, bows\, drums\, bags\, leatherwork and other objects informed by Mashantucket Pequot and Narragansett traditions. \nHis flute playing has been featured at Tribal and public ceremonies\, including Schemitzun and Indigenous commemorations at the Connecticut State Capitol. \nAt Waterfest\, that music returns to the landscape from which much of the cultural tradition surrounding it emerged. \nBefore You Paddle\, Learn to Clean the Boat\nThe first boat-cleaning demonstration begins at 10:30 a.m. \nAnother is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. \nIt might sound like a surprisingly mundane subject for a festival until you consider what can travel on a kayak\, canoe\, paddle\, trailer\, fishing equipment or other wet gear. \nAquatic invasive plants and organisms can be moved from one waterbody to another by recreational users without anyone realizing they’re carrying them. \nCleaning\, draining and drying boats and equipment is one of the simplest ways individual paddlers can reduce that risk. \nFor a festival encouraging people to enjoy the water\, teaching them how to avoid damaging the next body of water they visit is a logical companion lesson. \nAt 11\, Waterfest Turns Back to 2010\nOne of the day’s most substantive programs begins at 11 a.m. \nThe first Community Conversation and Design Circle will look back at the catastrophic flooding of March 2010 and ask participants to help develop recommendations for reducing future flood risk. \nFor people who lived around Lantern Hill at the time\, this isn’t an abstract climate discussion. \nThe 2010 flood physically changed the landscape. \nHeavy rain caused Long Pond Dam to overtop. \nWhitford Brook overtopped Lantern Hill Road. \nLantern Hill Pond flooded the intersection around Homestead and Lantern Hill roads. \nA bridge south of Lantern Hill Pond was breached and washed out. \nRoad infrastructure suffered significant damage. \nIn Ledyard\, firefighters spent days pumping flooded properties while public works crews dealt with damaged roads. A year later\, the town was still planning major reconstruction work. \nSixteen years later\, the flood remains important enough that the Alliance’s current Mystic River Watershed Vulnerability Assessment uses photographs of the 2010 event to illustrate the risks facing the upper watershed. \nThe Flood Question Isn’t Settled\nThat’s what makes the Waterfest conversation more than a history lesson. \nThe towns and watershed organizations are still working on infrastructure in the Lantern Hill and Whitford Brook corridor. \nIn 2022\, Ledyard accepted $3 million in state funding for infrastructure improvements involving the Whitford Brook area\, including work connected with Long Pond Dam\, Bush Pond Dam\, Bush Pond Dike and nearby culverts. \nThen\, in April 2026\, Ledyard authorized another $3.2248 million transportation grant for replacement of the Lantern Hill Road bridge over Whitford Brook below Long Pond. \nThose projects exist alongside a broader regional effort to understand how flooding\, extreme heat and drought could affect the Mystic River watershed in the future. \nThe current vulnerability assessment brings together the four watershed towns\, both Tribal Nations\, the Alliance\, Connecticut Sea Grant\, Fuss & O’Neill\, Resilient Land & Water and the Long Island Sound Study. \nWaterfest gives ordinary residents a seat in that conversation. \nLunch Comes With a Dance Like Water Party\nAfter a morning spent thinking about infrastructure and flood resilience\, the schedule deliberately loosens up. \nFrom 12:30 to 1 p.m.\, it’s time for lunch\, music and the Dance Like Water Party. \nFree food is part of the Waterfest experience. \nIt’s another example of how the Alliance has structured its community events differently from conventional environmental meetings. \nYou don’t have to arrive with technical knowledge. \nYou don’t need to belong to an environmental organization. \nYou can come because you want to paddle. \nYou can come for the music. \nYou can come because your children want to swim. \nAnd while you’re there\, you might learn why a culvert a few hundred yards away matters to a fish swimming north from Long Island Sound. \nRashad Young and Derrick Strong Take Over at 1\nAt 1 p.m.\, Waterfest shifts toward Indigenous music and spoken word. \nRashad Young will perform on Mashantucket flute\, followed by poems from Eastern Pequot writer and Alliance co-founder Derrick Strong. \nStrong’s words are already woven into the Alliance’s identity. \nThe organization prominently uses his line: \n“The rivers flow through us.” \nIt’s an unusually concise expression of the idea behind Waterfest. \nA watershed isn’t simply a blue line on a map that communities agree to protect. \nIts water passes through drinking supplies\, ecosystems\, food systems\, cultural traditions and communities. \nThe people living around it are part of the watershed\, too. \nAt 1:30\, Paddle Toward a Fishway That Doesn’t Exist Yet\nOne of the most interesting activities of the day begins at 1:30 p.m. \nFollowing another boat-cleaning demonstration\, participants can join a guided paddle to the future fishway at Long Pond Dam. \nThe project could dramatically change what Long Pond means to migratory fish. \nRight now\, Long Pond Dam creates a barrier on Whitford Brook. \nAlewives are anadromous fish. They’re born in freshwater\, migrate to the ocean and later return to freshwater to spawn. \nA dam can turn what was once a connected migration route into a dead end. \nThe proposed solution at Long Pond is a nature-like fishway. \nInstead of relying on a highly engineered ladder-like structure\, the concept uses a channel designed to mimic natural stream conditions\, allowing fish to gradually move around the obstruction. \nThe Numbers Behind the Fishway Are Enormous\nThe potential ecological payoff is much larger than the size of the project might suggest. \nEngineering work for the Long Pond project reports that Connecticut DEEP Fisheries estimated restored passage could eventually support an annual run of more than 250\,000 alewives. \nThe project could help establish approximately 6.6 miles of connected river corridor\, stretching from the confluence of Whitford Brook and the Mystic River upstream toward the top of the Lantern Hill Pond system. \nAlewives aren’t the only species that could benefit. \nThe Whitford Brook system is also habitat for migratory and resident fish including American eel\, and improved stream connectivity can benefit an entire aquatic food web. \nThat’s why the afternoon paddle is more interesting than simply paddling to a dam. \nParticipants will be traveling toward a place where people are actively trying to reconnect the freshwater at Waterfest with the sea. \nAt 2\, The Conversation Moves From Water to Hemp\nThe second Community Conversation begins at 2 p.m. with an unusual subject: \nLiving in a locally grown hemp home. \nIt may seem like a detour from ponds and fishways\, but it fits the larger theme of community resilience. \nIndustrial hemp can be processed into building materials\, including hemp-lime composites commonly known as hempcrete. These materials have attracted attention as alternatives to more carbon-intensive conventional construction materials. \nWaterfest’s afternoon conversation puts that idea into the local context: what happens when building materials can be grown regionally\, and how might housing itself become part of a more regenerative relationship between people\, land and climate? \nIt’s another example of Waterfest deliberately stretching the definition of watershed care beyond picking up trash beside a stream. \nThere Are Prizes at 3\nThe day’s prize drawing begins at 3 p.m. \nThe Alliance hasn’t published a complete prize list in the event information provided\, so consider that part a surprise. \nThe main public festival concludes at 4 p.m. \nVolunteers who want to stay and help put the site back together can participate in cleanup from 4 to 5:30 p.m. \nThat’s an appropriately practical ending for an event about stewardship. \nWaterfest Is Really About Who Gets to Make the Decisions\nThe Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed is a relatively young nonprofit\, but its organizational model is one of the more interesting things about it. \nRather than treating the watershed as belonging to whichever municipality happens to contain a particular stream\, the Alliance works across four towns and two Tribal Nations. \nIts mission combines ecological health with community resilience and cultural vitality. \nThat matters because water ignores political borders. \nFloodwater doesn’t stop at a town line. \nNeither does pollution. \nNeither does a migrating alewife. \nAnd neither does the Mystic River watershed. \nWaterfest puts that philosophy into practice for a day. \nSwim in the pond. \nPaddle it. \nListen to music beside it. \nLearn how to keep invasive species out of it. \nRemember what happened when it overflowed in 2010. \nImagine hundreds of thousands of fish eventually reaching it again. \nAnd\, most importantly\, join the conversation about what happens next. \nDetails\nEvent: Waterfest 2026\nTheme: Water Inspires\nDate: Saturday\, September 19\, 2026\nMain Location: Long Pond\nAddress: 79 Homestead Road\, Ledyard\, CT\nAdmission: Free\nDonations: Encouraged to help offset Waterfest costs and support the Alliance’s watershed programs\nMain Program: 10 a.m.–4 p.m.\nOptional Lantern Hill Hike: 8 a.m.; meet/sign in at Two Trees Inn parking lot at 7:45 a.m.\n10 a.m.: Yootay Singers; welcome\, introductions and instructions\n10:30 a.m.: Boat-cleaning demonstration\n11 a.m.–Noon: Community Conversation/Design Circle on the 2010 flood and flood-risk-reduction recommendations\n12:30–1 p.m.: Lunch\, music and Dance Like Water Party\n1 p.m.: Rashad Young\, Mashantucket flute; Derrick Strong\, Eastern Pequot poetry\n1:30 p.m.: Boat-cleaning demonstration and guided paddle to the future fishway\n2 p.m.: Community Conversation Round 2\, Living in a Locally Grown Hemp Home\n3 p.m.: Prize drawing\n4–5:30 p.m.: Event cleanup\nActivities: Swimming\, paddling\, environmental learning\, art\, music\, community exhibits and conversations\nOrganizer: Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed\nEvent Contact: 914-462-2857\nWhat to Bring: Dress for outdoor activities and the day’s weather. Participants planning to paddle or swim should bring appropriate personal equipment and follow event safety instructions.\nWeather: Outdoor waterfront event; check the organizer’s event information for any weather-related updates. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown. \nResources\nAlliance for the Mystic River Watershed – Team\nAlliance for the Mystic River Watershed – Support Our Work\nMystic River Watershed Vulnerability Assessment\nMystic River Watershed Living Atlas\nTown of Ledyard – Whitford Brook Watershed Infrastructure Improvements\nTown of Ledyard – 2026 Lantern Hill Road Bridge Funding\nPrinceton Hydro – Long Pond Nature-Like Fishway\nSave the Sound – Long Pond Fish Passage\nMashantucket Pequot Museum – Rashad Young\nUnited Way of Southeastern Connecticut – Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/waterfest-2026-brings-paddling-indigenous-music-art-and-a-community-conversation-to-long-pond/
LOCATION:Long Pond\, 79 Homestead Rd\, Ledyard\, 06339\, United States
CATEGORIES:Long Pond Ledyard
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Waterfest-2026-Brings-Paddling-Indigenous-Music-Art-and-a-Community-Conversation-to-Long-Pond.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T223000
DTSTAMP:20260626T233945Z
CREATED:20260513T011926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260626T233945Z
UID:10001499-1790368200-1790375400@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center's Stargazing Nights
DESCRIPTION:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center’s Stargazing Nights turn a quiet Friday evening in Ninigret Park into one of the most atmospheric experiences in southern New England. Hosted by Frosty Drew Observatory & Science Center\, the weekly gathering invites visitors to explore the night sky through powerful telescopes while astronomers guide guests across planets\, star clusters\, distant galaxies\, and the glowing band of the Milky Way overhead. Under some of the darkest skies in Rhode Island\, the experience feels less like a formal science program and more like stumbling into a community of people quietly obsessed with the universe. \nAs darkness settles over Ninigret Park\, visitors can expect views that change depending on the season and sky conditions\, often including Saturn’s rings\, Jupiter’s moons\, the cratered surface of the Moon\, and deep space objects rarely visible in brighter suburban areas. The observatory’s Sky Theatre and telescope stations create an immersive environment where curious first-timers mingle with amateur astronomers and longtime stargazers. There’s something strangely calming about standing in near silence while strangers take turns peering into the cosmos\, especially on clear summer nights when the Milky Way stretches visibly across the sky. \nThe observatory typically opens around 8:30 p.m. on Friday nights and remains active through at least 10:30 p.m.\, sometimes later depending on weather and viewing conditions. Because the event is weather dependent\, updates are posted on the day of the event before 3 p.m. Organizers also note that Ninigret Park’s dark sky rules prohibit white light use after dusk in order to protect night vision and sensitive astronomical equipment\, giving the entire area an almost surreal glow of dim red lights and shadowy pathways. Tickets for Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center’s Stargazing Nights can be purchased by clicking the event link below. \nWhen ticket sales open\, a link to purchase / acquire tickets will be added to the “Cost” field on the event page. Once event capacity is reached\, these fields will be listed as “Sold Out“\, and we will be unable to allow entry to any more guests. \nRules and Suggestions:\n• Guests should avoid using white flashlights\, phone flashlights\, or bright screens after dusk\n• Red light flashlights are encouraged to preserve night vision\n• Bug spray is highly recommended during warmer months due to mosquitoes and insects near the wildlife refuge\n• Weather conditions may affect visibility or event operations\n• Children ages 5 and older require tickets\n• Arriving early is recommended for the best viewing opportunities and parking access \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/frosty-drew-observatory-and-science-centers-stargazing-nights/2026-09-25/
LOCATION:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center\, 61-62 Park Lane\, Charlestown\, RI\, 02813\, United States
CATEGORIES:Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Frosty-Drew-Observatory-and-Science-Centers-Stargazing-Nights.jpeg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR