Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had a pretty great day Wednesday in southeastern Connecticut.
He ate lobster, toured the historic , saw some boats off Niantic and visited the Florence Griswold Museum, all in a few hours.
And that was exactly his point.
“Connecticut has this wonderful combination of events and places that are a very short distance from each other,” Malloy said. “You can really just have an unbelievable experience. And we are just promoting that.”
Malloy, decked out in his tourism-promotion garb — a collared shirt emblazoned with “Still Revolutionary,” shorts and some Asics — traveled around to tourist attractions in Southeastern Connecticut. His goal was to promote his new tourism campaign, but also to promote Connecticut as a whole.
“We are promoting business, we are promoting tourism, we are promoting Connecticut as a great place to live and visit,” he said. “And that is what Connecticut is right now.”
The governor went from Odetah Campground in Bozrah to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Waterford to Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough in the Noank section of Groton for lunch to Harbor Mill Marina in Niantic to the Florence Griswold Museum and Old Lyme Inn in Old Lyme. At each stop, business owners gave him a tour of the facility and discussed why the place is a tourist attraction.
At the O’Neill, Executive Director Preston Whiteway told the governor the theater center offers the first and really only 14-week intensive undergraduate theater program. The program has helped produce stars like Michael Douglas, Jennifer Garner and Jeremy Piven.
“The reason Waterford is known throughout the world is because of the Eugene O’Neill,” Whiteway said.
All the businesses Malloy visited were pleased to have the governor come and excited about his efforts to promote tourism in southeastern Connecticut.
Whiteway said he appreciated the visit.
“I’m very grateful to have the governor here,” he said.
