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Date: Saturday, September 8 through Sunday, September 9, 2001

Norwalk Oyster Festival

The weekend was a grand success.  Over 3800 people toured our decks, and the festival itself drew an estimated 75,000 over the weekend, delighting crowds with live oysters, joy rides, craft tents and an appearance by the legendary band, "Kool and the Gang" Saturday night.

The weather held fair for all three days; sunny, war, (humid!), but with a steady SW-ly breeze to help contend with the heat.  The ERNESTINA lay alongside a floating dock near the entrance to Veteran's Memorial Park, and just south of the major artery through town where it crosses the river.  As throngs of pedestrians and motorists crossed the bridge, they had a birds' eye view of us, the QUINNIPIAK, CHRISTEEN and a small sail training vessel PHOENIX.  We like to think we drew significant numbers into the Festival with this sight.

Visitors on board were shown some of our educational stations, including a portfolio of historic photographs from all 4 careers of ERNESTINA's life, a knot-tying station, and a display of our traditional "tools of the trade". Our members Ed and Alicia Ditto and Bob Hansen threw themselves wholeheartedly into their role of interpreter (and juggler!).  Their help and enthusiasm were invaluable and appreciated by all the crew.

We look forward to visiting Norwalk again, and to satiating our appetite for live oysters at future festivals.

Captain: Sophie Morse
Program Coordinator: Inette Rex

We would like to thank Lotus and IBM for donation of software, hardware and funding to enable regular electronic updates from the ship.

NOAA Chart is provided courtesy of Maptech using Cruising Navigator 4.3 and grabbing the image using Grabit Pro 6.02.

 
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Copyright 1997-2001
Schooner Ernestina
89 North Water Street, P.O. Box 2010, New Bedford, MA 02741-2010
phone 508.992.4900 -- fax 508.984.7719
www.ernestina.org

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