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<\/a>The family-friendly event is free of charge and sprawls across New Bedford\u2019s historic waterfront, covering Fisherman\u2019s Wharf, the State Pier, and Steamship Pier.<\/p>\nThe now-familiar program is packed with boat tours, gear demonstrations, documentaries, fishtale telling, live music, and seafood cooking demos.<\/p>\n
All are intended to give the public a better understanding of commercial fishing, its culture, its people, and the communities it supports, and to give fishermen and their families an opportunity to share their stories, learn something new, show off their skills, and have some fun.<\/p>\n
This year, the festival has a 750-gallon flume tank on display, made possible through a partnership between the Center for Sustainable Aquatic Resources at Memorial University\u2019s Marine Institute in St. John\u2019s, Newfoundland and GEARNET, the Northeast Groundfish Gear Conservation Engineering and Demonstration Network.<\/p>\n
The Marine Institute is home to a 450,000-gallon flume tank, the world\u2019s largest, which hundreds of Northeast fishermen and researchers have visited to test new net designs.\u00a0 Working Waterfront Festival attendees will have the chance to see how this kind of testing is done on a smaller scale in the institute\u2019s portable demonstration tank.<\/p>\n
Local net maker Tor Bendiksen of Reidar\u2019s Manufacturing designed scale-model nets for use in the demo tank, and net designers, fisheries scientists, and fishermen will be on hand to answer questions.\u00a0 Other model nets will be on display, including some provided by Superior Trawl, which is based in Narragansett, RI.<\/p>\n
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Contests, displays<\/b><\/p>\n
Without question, people who visit fish piers and fishing communities like to see the tools of the trade \u2013 nets, traps, rigging, and the mechanics of it all.\u00a0 There\u2019ll be plenty of that on display at the festival.<\/p>\n
At the Steamship Pier, the public will be able to visit \u201cskills demonstration booths,\u201d where fishermen will be exhibiting their net making, knot tying, rigging, wire splicing, and scallop dredge making talents, among others.<\/p>\n
And, in one of the most exciting festival events each year, fishermen will compete against each other for cash prizes in a number of contests, further displaying the precision and techniques involved in so many daily fishing-related tasks.<\/p>\n
The Maritime Law Offices of Latti & Anderson LLP are sponsoring both the scallop shucking and net mending contests, offering $500, $250, and $100 prizes for first, second, and third place finishes respectively in each category.\u00a0 The Marlinspike Artist is offering a $100 Stop and Shop gift card to the winner of the splicing contest, and Hercules SLR (US), which is sponsoring both the safety demonstrations and survival suit races, is offering $100 gift certificates to survival suit race winners.<\/p>\n
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Seafood, tales, tugs<\/b><\/p>\n
It goes without saying that fresh local seafood is a festival highlight.\u00a0 Ample supplies of fried scallops, clam cakes, crab and lobster rolls, shrimp cocktail, oysters, little necks, and \u201cNew Bedford fish and chips\u201d will be readily available.<\/p>\n
And, on Sunday afternoon, two prominent chefs will compete in a \u201cSeafood Throwdown,\u201d vying against each other to create a winning seafood dish using a surprise local seafood ingredient.\u00a0 The event is a collaboration between the festival and the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance.<\/p>\n
The \u201cFishtales\u201d story station will be back in operation on the Steamship Pier as part of the festival\u2019s Community Documentation Project, which is collecting and archiving real life stories from fishermen and other industry members.<\/p>\n
The Dock-U-Mentary Film Area on Pier 3 is the place to go to see classic and contemporary footage chronicling the history and workings of the commercial fishing industry and waterfront.\u00a0 And, a number of authors will be reading from and signing books about fishing, seafood, boats, and related subjects.<\/p>\n
Other festival events include:\u00a0 man overboard demonstrations to show
\nhow quickly fishermen must act to rescue crew members who have fallen into the water; music galore; tours of the fully restored wooden eastern rig Roann; tours of commercial scallop, clam, and groundfish boats; tours of a Coast Guard vessel and the 108′ Schooner Ernestina, which is the official vessel of the commonwealth of Massachusetts; miniature workboat model displays; harbor tours; whaleboat races; a tugboat muster; and much, much more.<\/p>\n
Poignantly capping off the weekend\u2019s festivities, the festival will host the 44th Annual Blessing of the Fleet on Sunday at 1pm.<\/p>\n
The Working Waterfront Festival is a project of the nonprofit Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts.\u00a0 Dozens of sponsors, donors, patrons, friends, and industry members have contributed significantly to make this year\u2019s event possible.<\/p>\n
For more information and to download the 56-page festival <\/p>\n Music abounds at\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Sept. 28-29 Working\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Waterfront Festival<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Music lovers will be pleased to hear that Working Waterfront Festival organizers have lined up an especially impressive slate of performers for this year\u2019s 10th anniversary festival celebration.<\/p>\n The range of offerings covers everything from traditional sea chanteys to songs that vividly portray the industry\u2019s ethnic diversity.<\/p>\n Here are a few of the performers in the weekend\u2019s line-up:<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0Anita Best \u2013 Traditional songs and stories from Newfoundland;<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0Calico Jack \u2013 Music and spoken words celebrating the people, places, and history of the Chesapeake;<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0Crabgrass featuring Daisy Nell \u2013 Old time music for New England contra dances, as well as traditional and original songs about the seafaring and ship building heritage of Essex, MA;<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0Sharks Come Cruisin\u2019 \u2013 A \u201csea chantey punk\u201d band from Rhode Island;<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0Joao Cerilo & Pilon Batuku \u2013 Traditional Cape Verdean Funan\u00e1 and batuque music;<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0Ana Vinagre \u2013 A \u201clocal legend\u201d who sings Portuguese fado;<\/p>\n \u2022 SAMspill \u2013 Traditional music from Norway;<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0Jon Campbell \u2013 A former fisherman and festival regular who sings often humorous nautically themed folk songs and leads Something Fishy, a song\/poetry swap of material created and performed by fishermen;<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0Souls of the Sea \u2013 A Gloucester-based folk-rock trio; and<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0The New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus.<\/p>\n A completing listing of all performers and their timeslots and stages is available on the Working Waterfront Festival website at www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org<\/a>.\u00a0 \/cfn\/<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read the rest and much, much more in the October issue of Commercial Fisheries News. Read online<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n immediately and download for future reference. [add_to_cart=3274]<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n
\nprogram guide, visit the festival\u2019s website at www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\/cfn\/<\/b><\/p>\n