Article DetailsNew Bedford MA 2010 Working Waterfront Festival |
| Date Added: August 10, 2010 03:50:48 PM |
| Author: |
| Category: Seafood Art: Fish and Fishing Art: Commercial Fishing |
| New Bedford MA 2010 Working Waterfront Festival Dates: Saturday, September 25th 11-7 (whaleboat races from 8-Noon) Sunday, September 26th 11-5 Location: New Bedford Waterfront (Pier 3-Steamship Pier) Admission is FREE Parking is FREE (at the Elm Street Garage) www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org FESTIVAL OVERVIEW More than simply a celebration, the Working Waterfront Festival is a unique opportunity for the public to get a firsthand look at the culture of fishing and for the commercial fishing community to tell its own story. The event presents all that goes into bringing seafood from the ocean to the table in a way that is hands-on, educational and fun. We encourage you to listen and watch, but also to taste, touch and converse. 2010 THEME While continuing to focus on commercial fishing and other port industries, the 2010 Working Waterfront Festival will present an expanded look at the ethnic diversity of the region’s working waterfront communities with a program entitled All in One Boat: The Cultural Mosaic of New England’s Working Ports. Immigrants from around the globe have settled in New England’s port cities and helped shape these working waterfront communities which today include a rich mosaic of cultures. Festival programming includes performances of traditional music, dance and storytelling and demonstrations of traditional crafts reflecting this varied ethnic heritage. Foodways programs highlight family recipes and traditional approaches to preparing and preserving seafood. On the Festival’s Narrative Stage, working waterfront community members from a multitude of ethnic backgrounds share immigration stories and explore how ethnic identity has shaped religious and community celebrations and traditional beliefs and practices at sea and on shore. Author readings and documentary film screenings further illuminate these topics. PERFORMERS The Festival brings together a unique array of music, dance, poetry and theater presented on three stages. Performances include traditional sea chanteys, music and dance reflecting the industry’s ethnic diversity and poetry and music about commercial fishing and the sea often performed by musicians who work in the industry. In keeping with this year’s theme, many of the 2010 acts reflect the cultural mosaic of the commercial fishing industry. The Black Brook Singers open the festival with a Native American drum circle. Michela Musolino presents traditional Sicilian music; she will be accompanied by renowned guitarist Marco Cappelli. Returning to the 2010 Festival is Joao Cerilo & Pilon Batuku the high energy, Cape Verdean dance band. Jim Payne & Fergus O’Byrne, two of Newfoundland’s most respected performers, combine their passion for traditional music and song, as well as their instrumental prowess and humorous repartee, to cover a broad spectrum of Newfoundland folk culture, including songs, stories and dance tunes. SAMspill, a Boston-Based trio, presents traditional Norwegian folk music. Aleksander Hauge of Karmoy, Norway chronicles the Norwegian emigrant experience in story, song and poetry. GeraSons present Azorean folk music on Saturday while local legend Ana Vinagre performs Portuguese fado with her ensemble on Sunday. Cindy Kallet, Ellen Epstein and Michael Cicone draw their material from contemporary and traditional music of the British Isles and North America, with a liberal sprinkling of sea music and occasional forays into other cultures as well. Folk singer and song collector Jeff Warner, who plays concertina, banjo, guitar and several “pocket” instruments including bones and spoons, shares songs from the fishing villages of New England and the outer banks of North Carolina. Several performers who write from personal experience working in the industry are also on tap for the weekend including festival regular Jon Campbell who leads Something Fishy, a song/poetry swap of material created and performed by fishermen. Also included in this group are fisherpoets Dave Densmore and Moe Bowstern who both fish out of Kodiak, Alaska. Colin Williams, Charlotte Enoksen and Karen Spitfire will also present original poetry about the industry. Actress Sylvia Ann Soares presents By the Sweat of Our Brow, a series of first person narratives created from oral histories of Cape Verdean longshoremen. Actors from the forthcoming feature length film Whaling City, which is being shot in New Bedford, present a staged reading of several scenes and a “talk back” with the audience. Festival favorites, Souls of the Sea, a Gloucester-based folk-rock trio performs on Saturday. The Beans and The Rum Soaked Crooks regale audiences with a Sea Chantey Sing Off on Sunday morning and the New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus closes out the day on Sunday. FESTIVAL FOOD The Oxford Creamery continues to serve up a full menu of the finest local seafood including fish and chips, fried scallops, lobster rolls, clam cakes, and quahog chowder. New this year the Atlantic Red Crab Company offers a variety of crab dishes including crab rolls, crab soup and crab empanadas from. Grilled tuna wraps, grilled swordfish kabobs and cacoila sandwiches are on the menu at Fresca Grill while Waterfront Grille presents several varieties of sushi. Other food vendors include: Café Arpeggio serving its own Home Made Ice Cream, Celtic Coffee House with coffee and pastries, Ray’s Kettle Corn, Del’s Lemonade, CEDC with candies and novelties, and The Veteran’s Transition House providing hotdogs and hamburgers. COOKING DEMONSTRATIONS The Foodways Area (Pier 3) features cooking demonstrations by galley cooks, ethnic cooks and celebrity chefs. Here visitors are invited to learn the basics of preparing fresh seafood at home as well as ethnic approaches to seafood cooking and galley fare. This year’s demonstrations feature locally grown produce with several demonstrations on putting foods by. Recipe cards will be available and the raw ingredients for most recipes will be available for sale at the Festival Farmers’ Market. This year’s Festival features a Seafood Throwdown in which two chefs compete to create a seafood dish using a surprise local seafood ingredient (not revealed to them until they arrive) and fresh, local produce. Chefs can bring three of their favorite ingredients and once they discover the secret seafood they will be using, they get $25 and 15 minutes to shop the Festival Farmers’ Market for ingredients. After their shopping spree, they have one hour to cook and present their entry for the judge’s consideration. The contest will conclude with an opportunity for the audience to sample the dishes. The Seafood Throwdown is a collaboration between the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and the Working Waterfront Festival. FARMERS’ MARKET With the resounding success of our 2009 Farmers’ Market we continue the tradition in 2010. Located on State Pier and sponsored by Edible Southshore, the market features produce and specialty items from a number of local farms as well as informational booths. In addition, Fleet Fisherman’s Market will be selling fresh, local fish, scallops and lobsters. Lees’ Market in Westport has generously donated re-usable cloth bags which will be given to the first 250 people who make a purchase at the farmer’s market. FILMS The Dock-U-Mentary Film Area (Pier 3) screens historic and contemporary footage taken at sea and on shore, chronicling the history and experiences of the working waterfront and the commercial fishing industry. Several short documentary films will also be shown. PANEL DISCUSSIONS Our Narrative Stage (Pier 3) brings the stories of the fishing industry to life with interactive panel discussions. Many of this year’s topics reflect the festival theme including: All in One Boat: the socio-economic impact of regulations on fishing communities; First Families; and Fishing Festivals & Rituals. These discussions are recorded and archived as part of our ongoing Working Waterfront Documentation Project. AUTHORS A number of well-known authors read from and sign their books on commercial fishing, the marine environment, food and farming. Baker Books, an independent bookseller, operates an on-site Festival Bookstore (located adjacent to the Narrative Stage on Pier 3) hosting author signings and selling titles of participating authors. See the Baker Books ad for descriptions of this year’s featured authors and their books. CONTESTS & DEMONSTRATIONS OF INDUSTRY SKILLS Contests offer a unique opportunity to watch those who work in the commercial fishing industry show off the skills of their trade. All contests will take place on the Contest Stage (located at Steamship Pier). This stage will also be the site for presentations featuring the latest in safety related gear and demonstrating the “tools of the trade” associated with various types of inshore fishing and both inshore and off-shore lobstering. This year’s contests include: Scallop Shucking, Fish Filleting, Net Mending, Link Squeezing, Splicing and Survival Suit Races. In addition, visitors can watch whaleboat races and a tugboat muster from the On Water Activities Viewing Area at the head of State Pier. Learn first hand about historic and contemporary skills of the industry by visiting the industry skills demonstration booths (Steamship Pier) including: net making, knot tying, rigging, scallop dredge making, inshore fishing and more. ETHNIC ARTS DEMONSTRATIONS A new feature at this year’s festival is our Ethnic Arts Demonstration Area. In keeping with this year’s theme, a number of traditional artists representing the ethnic mix of New England’s working ports demonstrate a variety of traditional arts. Among the participants is Eldrid Arntzen, who will be demonstrating the Norwegian art of rosemaling. In 2005, Eldrid was honored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) with its National Heritage Fellowship Award. The Fellowship recognizes artists who work in folk and traditional art forms. NEA bestows this award to only twelve artists nationwide each year who are chosen for their artistic excellence, cultural authenticity, and contributions to their communities. TOURS Vessel Tours Don’t miss the opportunity to learn about the different types of fishing vessels first-hand by getting on board one or more of the vessels offering dockside tours and talking with the crew. Vessels offering dockside tours include: a trawler, a deep sea clammer, a scalloper, an off-shore lobster boat and a tug boat. In addition, a Coast Guard lifeboat and a Coast Guard Patrol Boat will be available for tours as well as Schooner Ernestina, a 108’ traditional schooner, the official vessel of the Commonwealth. Harbor Tours Whaling City Expeditions offers 55-minute harbor tours departing hourly on both Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Walking Tours Trail maps for a Self-Guided Dock Walk are available at the Waterfront Visitor Center. UNITED STATES COAST GUARD The U.S. Coast Guard presents a number of activities from their location at State Pier. A Coast Guard lifeboat (south side of Pier 3) and patrol boat (east side of State Pier) are available for dockside tours both Saturday and Sunday. Please visit the Coast Guard booth located at Coast Guard Park. ON THE WATER ACTIVITIES Whaleboat Races – The Buzzards Bay Rowing Club presents whaleboat races from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 25th. Come cheer on your favorite team. Best viewing: head of State Pier. Whaleboat Rides – Try your hand at rowing a replica whaleboat. Buzzards Bay rowers will be on hand to provide instruction at Coast Guard Park on Saturday from 2-5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Tugboat Muster – Watch tugboats at work as they compete for bragging rights in hawser tossing and pushing contests, Saturday from 3-5 p.m. Best viewing: head of State Pier. BLESSING OF THE FLEET On Sunday, September 26th the 41st Annual Blessing of the Fleet takes place on State Pier beginning at 1:00 p.m. A time-honored tradition, the Blessing gives the fishing community an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the successes of the past year and to ask that the Lord’s good blessing continue in the following year to keep each vessel and its crew safe during each voyage. KID’S ACTIVITIES Be sure to visit the Kid’s Activity Tent located on Steamship Pier for a boatload of make and take art activities Saturday and Sunday from 11 to 5 including fish prints, shell decorating, paper boat making and more. Hands-on marine and fisheries science activities are presented by the Ocean Explorium’s WOW Mobile and SMAST, the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (Steamship Pier). EXHIBITS A number of industry related non profit organizations and businesses have booths at this year’s festival (a complete list is available at the end of the program guide). And don’t miss the Maritime Artisans Marketplace featuring unique handcrafted work by regional artists. Be sure to visit A Working Waterfront, a permanent exhibit on display in the Waterfront Visitor Center on Pier 3. For forty years, the Wharfinger building was the site of the city’s seafood auction. Today, in addition to welcoming visitors, the building houses a mini-museum commemorating the seafood auction and the City’s role in the history of the commercial fishing industry. The exhibit was created through a joint effort of the City of New Bedford, the National Park Service and the fishing industry. SPONSORS The Working Waterfront Festival is supported by a diverse coalition of individuals, businesses and educational and cultural organizations. Producing Partners of the 2010 Festival are National Endowment for the Arts, Island Foundation and Whaling City Seafood Display Auction. Major support is also provided by The City of New Bedford, Harbor Development Commission, Mass Humanities, Southcoast Media Group, United States Coast Guard, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, National Council for the Traditional Arts and Massachusetts Cultural Council. The Festival is a project of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts. JOIN THE CREW – VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES Laura Campbell, our Volunteer Coordinator for the past three years is taking a shore leave and has passed the helm to Kelly Bendiksen (Laura’s Assistant last year). We will miss Laura’s dedication, energy and smile! But she will continue to be involved with the event. We are pleased to welcome Kelly aboard and invite you to contact her if you are interested in volunteering at this year’s festival, volunteer@workingwaterfrontfestival.org or call the festival office at 508-993-8894. |
