Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Working Waterfront festival gives visitors a free, fun behind-the-scenes look

September 24, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Do you know how to properly cook and eat a lobster, or how to fillet a fish?

Perhaps you’d like to watch some of New Bedford’s most handsome fishermen model the latest in fishing gear, listen to some sea chanteys, cheer for your favorite in a nautical tattoo contest, or tour a scallop boat.

These are just a few of the many fun-filled and fascinating activities the 12th annual Working Waterfront Festival will offer guests of all ages as they explore the rich cultural history and get an inside look at the city’s dynamic fishing industry and bustling waterfront.

According to Laura Orleans, festival director, this year’s theme, “Every Object Tells a Story,” will be interpreted in various ways, including several skills demonstrations and a new area at the entrance to Steamship Pier where large industry objects, including a full-sized groundfishing net, will be displayed.

“The Working Waterfront Festival provides a rare opportunity for the public to get an inside look at the commercial fishing industry which not only generates over a billion dollars for our local economy each year, but is also a huge part of our culture and history,” Orleans continues.

Orleans says that this year’s festival is “a great mix of old favorites” such as the scallop shucking contest and seafood cooking throwdown, as well as new activities such as the fishing gear fashion show and nautical tattoo contest.

Read the full story at New Bedford Standard-Times

 

STEVE URBON: Working Waterfront Festival hits the big time

September 13, 2015 — It was a proud moment indeed last week when the Working Waterfront Festival, now in its 12th year, was named one of the top 100 festivals in the U.S. and Canada by the American Bus Association.

Don’t tell me you never heard of the American Bus Association. I have it from an authority, Dagny Ashley, the city’s tourism and marketing director, that this is the biggest organization like it in the nation, and serves as a sort of clearinghouse for events and destinations across the land.

How it works is that the group holds what is basically an annual convention called a marketplace, drawing some 3,500 participants like Ashley, who get 7-minute appointments to pitch their event to representatives of huge tour bus companies. The contestants are then judged against each other and those who don’t measure up will get the hook.

Sort of a tourism Gong Show, if you can remember the Gong Show.

Laura Orleans, the organizer of the festival, said it made the Top 100 about a decade ago, but a lot has changed since then. There has been such progress on so many things about tourism that the festival once again was competitive with the best in the country.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times