Fish Tales Festival Comes To New London On Saturday

Tugboats, a special train, and a variety of live entertainment will be on hand at the New London waterfront this weekend as an annual family festival enters its sixth year.

Fish Tales, Tugs & Sails & Rails will run rain or shine from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday at . The free event has a nautical and environmental theme, encouraging children and families to learn about the sea.

The “Rails” component of the event is new this year. Amtrak is bringing a special 40th anniversary train to , and the exhibit will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The exhibit train will offer visitors a look at cars and locomotives from the past as well as a glimpse of what the future might hold. The exhibit also includes an activity area based on the children’s program Chuggington Depot.

“We’re really excited that it’s so appropriate for that,” said Tracy Tremblay, an organizer of the event. “We’re bringing back the roaming railroad.”

The roaming railroad is a small mechanized train, which will ferry visitors between Union Station and the festival events on the waterfront. In addition, the Mohegan Pequot Model Railroad Club will be running a model railroad in the train station’s lobby from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Amtrak will be raffling off two round-trip tickets on their North East Regional service.

Numerous vessels will visit the waterfront. These will include the tugboats Patricia Ann and John Paul from the Thames Tugboat Company, the Coast Guard cutter Wrigley, and the . Project Oceanology and Mystic Aquarium will offer hands-on activities such as sea creature touch tanks.

Children’s authors will be speaking between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. The keynote authors this year are Lynne Cherry, who has written over 30 books including The Great Kapok Tree and A River Ran Wild, and Uri Shulevitz, whose books on the natural world include Dawn and Snow. Other authors making appearances are Michael Caduto, Kiki Latimer, Sarah L. Thomson, and Laya Steinberg. New this year is a “Bodacious Book Show,” a performance by Agostino Arts encouraging children to read, from 11 a.m. to noon.

Several musical performances are also scheduled to take place during the day. The performer “Captain Papillion” will arrive on the tugboats and lead visitors in a few pirate songs. Also appearing are Steve Elci and Friends, Geoff Kaufman and the New London Lighthouse Kids Chantey Chorus, Gabriele’s Martial Arts Dream Team, and creative dance by L’Ana Burton.

"What's great about this festival is it's truly a community event in terms of who puts it on," said Tremblay.

Tremblay said the event was the brainchild of Renee Fournier, spokesperson for . and have also partnered in the effort, while has coordinated the children's activities and entertainment and the has brought in the authors.

The full schedule of author appearances and musical entertainment:

• Bodacious Book Show: Nature Tales by Agostino Arts, 11 a.m. to noon 
• Uri Shulevitz, noon to 1 p.m.
• Michael Caduto, 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• Sarah L. Thomson, 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
• Lynne Cherry, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Laya Steinberg, 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Kiki Latimer, 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Music

• Captain Papillion “Kid Pirate” songs, 11:15 a.m. to noon and 2:15 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Steve Elci and Friends, 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Geoff Kaufman and the New London Lighthouse Kids Chantey Chorus, 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• L’Ana Burton creative dance, 1:15 p.m. to 2 p.m.
• Gabriele’s Martial Arts Dream Team, 2 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.