Month: April 2024

It’s late spring with signs of the summer season.

We’re delighted to share with you that we are sailing again!

We had our family shakedown sail this Saturday and we had a blast. A special thank you to our local friends who shared these photos of our first sailing day of 2024.

We’re honoring tradition again for our 28th season, raising our sails with guests for the first time, and offering Mom’s to sail free (with purchase of an adult ticket) on our Mothers’s Day Sails on May 12th at 1:00 & 3:00pm.

Tickets are available on our website at www.schooner.org.

Looking forward to sailing with you, Captain Heath & Crew

The Gloucester Public Schools Family and Community Speaker Series will conclude with two powerful presentations by a couple focused on alcohol awareness and the dangers of substance abuse.

Kathi & Chris Sullivan will present “Taylor’s Message” and “Not in the Playbook” on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at the Gloucester High School Auditorium.

“Taylor’s Message” is an alcohol awareness program, while “Not in the Playbook” focuses on substance use awareness. The content is targeted for ages 14 and up.

The Family and Community Speaker Series co-sponsored by the Gloucester Public Schools and Gloucester Health Department is designed to help families with some of the most common family struggles and dynamics. There is no charge for admission for the Sullivans’ presentation, and please join the Gloucester Public Schools for a community resource fair starting at GHS at 5 p.m. on May 1 (free pizza will be provided by Firing Up Pizza & Grill while it lasts). 

Go to https://sullivansmessage.com/ for more information about the speakers.

Details about “Taylor’s Message” from the website:

Kathi Meyer began to speak about substance use, alcohol awareness, mental health, wellness, and the importance of making good choices in 2009 after her 17-year-old daughter Taylor passed away from underage drinking after attending a series of underage drinking parties.

Taylor was found drowned in 2 feet of water because of the alcohol in her system, after getting lost from an outside party in the woods at an abandoned airport. Kathi somehow started Taylor’s Message only two months later. Her hope was to let her daughter’s passing have purpose.

Taylor’s life ended early in her senior year because of many poor choices one fateful weekend. It was Homecoming night, and Taylor and her friends chose to go to a series of underage parties. They ended the night at an abandoned airport, deep in the woods. Taylor found herself lost and all alone in the thick, dark woods and swamp. She never came home again. She was found three days later, face down in a swampy marsh on the river. She drowned in two feet of water because of the alcohol in her system. Poor choices from Taylor, from her friends, from the community and from her Mom, is why such a beautiful life with so much potential had ended.

She never thought that she would become an advocate for the prevention of underage drinking and social host liability. Wanting to make something good come from the experience of losing Taylor, combined with staggering youth underage drinking statistics are what drives Kathi to share Taylor’s Message. 

Details about “Not in the Playbook” from the website:

Chris Sullivan grew up in North Attleboro, MA, and he was always athletic. His talents and hard work ethic paid off when he was offered a full football scholarship to Boston College and, after graduating early, was drafted by the New England Patriots in 1996.

With the Patriots, Chris played in two Super Bowls (and has a ring to prove it!). He also played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and his community was so proud of all that Chris had accomplished.

He was battling anxiety and an addiction to drugs and alcohol that took over his life. Opioids and alcohol numbed his depression and anxiety, and he eventually gave up his career in football because the addiction was more powerful than his passion for the sport. His substance abuse  continued to grow, eventually evolving into a $,1000/day heroin habit. Chris chased his first “high” as hard as he chased professional football, and the disease of addiction proved to be more powerful than one of the strongest guys on the team.

Chris finally asked for help and has been sober since December 15, 2008. He now realizes it is the strong people, not the weak, who reach out and ask for help when they need it. Today, Chris has chosen to share his struggles with others and leaves his audiences with many life skills that will help them make good choices surrounding alcohol, drugs, anxiety, depression and mental health. Humble, honest and authentic, Chris’s message resonates with everyone, from athletes to parents to students to anyone struggling with mental wellness.

Flashdance…

Hey Joey,Hope you are doing well. I wanted to reach out and let you all know that we will begin paving Main Street, from Prospect Street to Washington Street, on Monday, May 6th.
The paving is scheduled to be completed by May 10th, though that day could change depending on weather. As sections are completed, parking will be turned over to try to minimize disruption to the area.

Councilor Benson will be doing some outreach to inform businesses on Main Street about the upcoming paving plans and we have posted the attached graphic to Facebook to get the word out.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Best,
Pam

Pam Tobey

Director of Communications & Constituent Services

A short walk around Rocky Neck allowed me a closer peak at these sheds and shacks. They each exude their own character and that’s what drew my attention to them.

Seasonal Trap and Gillnet Gear Closure to Protect Right Whales Will Remain in Effect
This advisory serves as notice that the Seasonal Trap and Gillnet Closures to Protect Right Whales remain
in effect until May 15 due to the continued presence of right whales in Massachusetts’ waters. DMF is
closely monitoring the presence of North Atlantic right whales and may lift these closures (and the small
vessel speed limit in Cape Cod Bay) prior to May 15 if observational data demonstrate right whales have
migrated out of our coastal waters. The commercial trap gear closure applies only to those state waters
north of Cape Cod to the New Hampshire border and east of Cape Cod east of 70°00’ west longitude (see
map), whereas the commercial gillnet closure and the recreational buoyed trap gear closure apply within
all waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth. These closures are each designed to prevent
endangered right whales from becoming entangled in fixed gear and associated buoy lines. Given the
density of right whales in Massachusetts waters, DMF has also extended the seasonal speed restriction in
Cape Cod Bay until May 15 (see Notice).
The Division of Marine Fisheries, in conjunction with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies,
continues aerial surveillance of right whales north and east of Cape Cod. Most recently, on April 26, 2024
aerial surveillance of Cape Cod Bay detected 52 right whales, including 3 mother/calf pairs (Figure 1). In
addition, other right whale observations during the month of April have demonstrated aggregations of
right whales throughout the spatial extent of Massachusetts coastal waters and surrounding areas (Figure
2). This heavy use of Massachusetts waters in the month of April is very common. Additional
surveillance flights are anticipated to occur over the next several days to update our understanding of
whale distribution. DMF will reevaluate the status of this closure based on the presence or absence of
whales.

Get ready for a deep dive into history of the Grand Dame of Rocky Neck – the Rockaway Hotel – by one of its current residents, Rich Carlson. Starting in the 1890’s as a boardinghouse, the Rockaway has been a fixture on Rocky Neck for over one hundred years. Rich will take you through those days of yesteryear from the founding of the Rockaway, to its heyday as one of the premier summer hotels of East Gloucester, to the seedy years where people in Gloucester today remember it as “the Rot-Away.” Drawing from memories of people who worked at the Rockaway bar and bolstered by a number of historical photos and illustrations, he’ll recount its founding through its many near-death experiences in the 1970’s and talk about its graceful retirement as the condominium complex it is today. 

Here is a link to the Zeffy sign-up :

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/a3082d8e-a1cd-40a7-8568-2594aecbd5f9

Rockport Nautical Chart Coozie Set

Five thick Rockport Nautical COOZIES ( not for navigation) including Gloucester and Rockport delivery. If you purchase for delivery outside of Rockport or Gloucester they won’t ship until you pay shipping.

$27.00

Five thick Rockport Nautical coozies (not for navigation) including Gloucester and Rockport delivery. If you purchase for delivery outside of Rockport or Gloucester they won’t ship until you pay shipping.