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Celebrate the Working Waterfront
New Bedford's a commercial fishing industry is frequently number one in the nation in terms of the value of the catch, but many of the city's resident don't know much about the fleet besides a casual glance at the fishing boats tied up along the piers.
Increasing that understanding is the idea behind the annual Working Waterfront Festival, which will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year on the city pier Sept. 28-29.
From the beginning, festival director Laura Orleans explained, the free, family-friendly festival was conceived as an educational celebration, an opportunity for people to get a first-hand understanding of a part of the community that most can't access on their own.
"It's important for people who are not in that community and culture to hear, and for fishermen to tell, their story," she said.
"More and more people are interested in where our food comes from. We can go to farmers' markets, join foods co-ops, and have a conversation with a farmer. Fishing happens way out there at sea where you can't see or understand it."
Evolution of an industry
The theme of this year's festival is how commercial fishing has changed over the past 10 years and what lies ahead. Authors and performers, some of whom are actually workers or past workers in the fishing industry, will entertain and educate with music, poetry, book readings and storytelling that relate the actual experience of working in the fishing industry and on the sea, reflect the cultural diversity of the industry's workforce and contemplate the industry's future.
Fishermen contests and demonstrations will display important skills such as net mending, wire splicing, scallop shucking and fish filleting. A 750-gallon water tank called a Flume Tank will demonstrate how fishing gear functions out on the open ocean.
A Fishtales Story Station tent on Steamship Pier will collect real-life stories from fishermen and others in the industry, Tours will be available of the harbor and aboard the restored Eastern rig fishing vessel, the <italic>F/V Roann <italic>.
If you're hungry, a Seafood Hut will serve New Bedford fish and chips, fried scallops and a variety of other seafoods. The Foodway Area on Pier Three will feature cooking demonstrations and contests. A farmers' market on State Pier will feature locally grown produce and specialty items.
Also look for survival suit and boat races, a man-overboard safety demonstration, model boat makers, kid's activities, industry exhibits, and the traditional Blessing of the Fleet on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
Help from the new highway
The biggest change in this year's festival is to the venue, with the newly reconstructed stretch of Route 18 at the foot of downtown that now gives tourists easier access to the waterfront that spawned New Bedford's success as a city and fishing port.
'The new design will give people more of an opportunity to connect with the area's fishing culture," she said.
"This is giving the industry a platform to share its point of view and give the public more perspective to understand each other," she added.
A folklorist by trade who lives in New Bedford, Orleans was producing an event in Seattle, WA in 2003 on understanding the fishing industry when the seed of an idea came to her.
"I thought, why don't we have something like this here?" she said. "As soon as I had the idea, I shopped it around."
A big help along the way has been enthusiastic help of local artists and business people and the Bendiksen family, which has multiple links to the industry. The family manufactures fishing gear, and Radar Bendiksen was a fisherman for 30 years. Radar's wife, Kistin, has served as the festival's co-director since the event began. The festival is now a project of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts, a non-profit organization.
Lights, camera, fishing!
One regular feature of the festival has expanded beyond the limits of the two-day event. The Dock-U-Mentary Film series, which screens contemporary and historical documentaries on the industry, is now a monthly film series at the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park Theater.
Orleans said it's a challenge to attract festival people to the films because there are so many other activities during the event's two days. So, two years ago, the Festival Committee decided to talk to the New Bedford Park Service about a regular documentary film series in the theater at its William Street headquarters.
It was a serendipitous meeting of the minds, Orleans said. The series has continued ever since, every third Friday of each month, free of charge, at 7:00 p.m. in the Corson Maritime Learning Center Theater, 33 William Street, with Orleans as director.
For more information on the Working Waterfront Festival, go to www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org.