Author: Joey Ciaramitaro

Photo- Al Bezanson

MANCHESTER’S Festival by the sea returns on Saturday, august 1

A SEASIDE SUMMER CELEBRATION OF LOCAL ART, MUSIC AND FOOD

On Saturday, August 1, Manchester’s summertime celebration of local art, music and food, Festival by the Sea, returns to downtown. The popular annual event will feature close to 100 artists ranging from painters to jewelers and artisans, and it will stretch from Town Hall Common throughout town and into Masconomo Park.

In the park, visitors will find not only art, but a variety of foods provided by local restaurants and food trucks as well as a beer garden featuring Cape Ann Brewing’s signature ale, Fisherman’s Brew.

On the Masconomo Park bandstand, live music will extend throughout the day featuring many Cape Ann favorites, with the all-day event culminating with a 4 pm headlining performance by Brian Alex, of ENTRAIN. This year’s music is sponsored by the Kelly Automotive Group.

Festival by the Sea begins at 10 am and continues until 6:00 pm. There will be food, music, beer and wine in Masconomo Park all day long. There will also be activities for children throughout the day. In the event of inclement weather, the rain date will be the following day, Sunday, August 2. For more information, go to festivalbytheseama.com or follow Festival by the Sea on Facebook.

The event is free and there will be ample parking and a complimentary shuttle to and from satellite parking areas, compliments of Beauport Ambulance. Mark your calendar and pack your blanket for a day of great music, inspired artistry and delicious, locally grown foods.

Festival by the Sea is brought to you by the Manchester Division of the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, and sponsored by Applied Materials, Cell Signaling, 7 Central, Foreign Affairs and 104.9FM.

GLOUCESTER BLUES FESTIVAL returns on Saturday, august 8

BLUES BY THE SEA IN STAGE FORT PARK ON GLOUCESTER HARBOR

Now in its fourth year, this annual event has brought blues lovers from far and wide to Gloucester each August since 2012. Nearly 1,500 people attended last summer’s festival and this year’s show should exceed that number with the interest that has been generated!

Make sure to get your tickets early as blues lovers from throughout the Northeast will look to get the best seats in this beautiful harborside park.

World-class blues will reverberate through the park from 11 am to 8 pm with some of the nation’s finest performers playing from the Gloucester Blues stage. This year’s list of performers includes Sugar Blue, Lil’Ed and the Blues Imperials, Albert Castiglia, Joanna Connor, Alexis O. Suter, Mitch Woods and Juke Joint Five.

Located right on the harbor at beautiful Cressey’s Beach, the event will have a beer and wine garden and outstanding food vendors. Bring your own chairs or blankets (sorry, no pets, no umbrellas and no coolers). Tickets are $28.00 in advance or $40.00 at the gate.

To purchase advance tickets online up until August 3, and for further information, visit gloucesterbluesfestival.com, or stop in at the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, 33 Commercial Street, Gloucester, MA. On-site city parking is $15.00 (free on-street parking is limited to 1 to 2 hours). The Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce is the principal sponsor of the Gloucester Blues Festival, which is produced by Paul Benjamin and Bob Hastings.

The 5K is USA Track & Field sanctioned event and will be chip timed. 100% of the proceeds go to The Magnolia Library and Community Center.

The Kid’s 1K is only $5 and includes the pancake breakfast. The Joe Nadeau Band will be playing at the start and finish lines of both races. Come help us make this the biggest and most fun race morning ever!

Thanks!

Randy

Magnolia Road Race Committee

Good People,
Attached please find the preliminary results for this year’s Blackburn Challenge.  The race happened yesterday, Saturday July 25.  It’s a 20-mile open ocean race around Cape Ann.
Chris Chappell, you can post this on the web site to get the usual feedback from race participants regarding the accuracy.
There are many, many stories from this race.  Tamsin, Donna tells me you were there when some of the #$@% was hitting the fan on the beach, so you know a little bit about what was going on.
Although the wind speed was fairly normal for this area, the wind direction made for tough conditions (north, north-east blowing down the back shore).  Here are some facts that make this race stand out:

• There were 59 participants who started the race and did not finish.  Last year there were 6.  I wouldn’t be surprised to learn we had the largest number of DNF in Blackburn history, but I don’t know that.  The last big weather year was 2000, and I count 33 DNFs that year.
• This was the year of the High Performance Kayak.  There were only four boats that finished in under 3 hours, all of them single HPK men.  Last year 48 boats finished in under 3 hours, and they were all different kinds of boats.  The winning HPK boat finished sixth overall.  Normally the big multi person boats and the sliding seat racing boats own the fastest times.
• The race committee accounted for every single boat, every single human.  The participants were excellent to help us out by calling the race number when they stopped.  We took to putting the official race number on the wrist bands we use for meal tickets.  That has proven very helpful. 
• The timing boat followed in the last two participants relieving the coast guard who had a very busy day. 
• The chase boats won the day with their immediate response to challenging conditions.  
• The Gloucester police were also very helpful on the water lending a tow rope to a boat in distress. 
• Many, many race participants put aside their competitive nature to help a fellow racer in trouble.  We deduct time from participants who lose time helping others. 
• The ham radio guys keep track of all the boats on the course.  They know how many have dropped out, how many have passed half way, how many rounded the breakwater.  This proved invaluable for tracking the boats.
• It was a very well run race.

2015 Blackburn Preliminary Results are up on the website for download. If any questions, discrepancies please let us know. http://www.blackburnchallenge.com/CARC_Race_Results.asp

Cape Ann artist Wins Magnolia Art Show with Photography

Katherine Richmond, one of four artists exclusively featured at Zinc Gallery in Rocky Neck, recently won the grand prize of “Best in Show”. In addition, she received “Peoples choice award for Best in Show and Best in Photography” for her photograph ‘Hokusai’ pictured above. 

This is the only time a photograph has won over an oil painting, watercolor, mixed media, sculpture, and pastels in the 38-year history of the Magnolia Art Show held last week. “It’s a welcoming sign for Gloucester to award a fine art photograph, which has held to more traditional views of art for many years, to other talented local photographers,” said Richmond.

Richmond’s work also hangs at the prestigious 21st Members Juried Show at The Griffin Museum in Winchester now through August 30th.