Good Morning Gloucester

We received this request for volunteers from Carol Mondello. It’s actually a great deal of fun to meet our visitors and have a chance to share knowledge about our favorite Gloucester spots, so give this opportunity some consideration!

“Good Morning,
I’m so happy to be planning to open as usual this coming season so I wanted to check in and see how you were doing and what your thoughts were on coming back this summer. I intend to allow visitors in at a reduced capacity with masks and social distancing required and of course additional cleaning protocols. Sources predict we will have a robust season with lots of people wanting to get out and about this summer. 
Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon. 

—
Carol MondelloWelcoming Center CoordinatorStage Fort Park 978-281-8865

Help Restore the local Elm Landscape and Fight Climate Change:Inspired by the World Economic Forum’s 1 Trillion Tree campaign to fight climate change, Project Elm is gifting 100 Elm Trees to local property owners in Gloucester and Rockport.If you’d like to plant a disease-resistant Elm on your property, please reach out. We have the costs covered. We also have a skilled volunteer team ready to help plant trees on the optimal spot on your property.Reach out to Nathan Ives if you’d like a tree. Contact details below.

The State has developed a new preregistration system for those seeking vaccine appointments. Beginning tomorrow, Friday March 12, you can sign up and be enrolled in a virtual queue to be notified when an appointment is available for you at one of the mass vaccination sites. Residents are cautioned that it may take several weeks for an appointment to become available, but this seems like an opportunity to ease some of the anxiety caused by trying to obtain appointments in the current method. To learn more: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/preregister-for-a-covid-19-vaccine-appointment When a link to the preregistration is available, we will provide it (tomorrow)

More big news as described by NBC10: In a second major announcement, officials said the state’s seven mass vaccination sites will be reserved exclusively for educators during four dedicated days on Saturday, March 27, Saturday, April 3, Saturday, April 10, and Sunday, April 11.

This is pretty big news and a sign that perhaps we are gaining on this virus and heading to better days ahead.

Top four nominations for best Gloucester Tuna Sub as submitted in the comments on this post.

To submit a nomination you click the title of this post and then under the post where it says “Leave a comment”, click that and write the name of the sub joint who you consider makes the best Tuna Sub in Gloucester.

You can only vote once and anonymous votes don’t count.

Judges should not submit a nomination.  It shows bias and I want the most impartial judges possible. Thank You.

There will also be voting on Facebook which will be added. If you vote twice both of your votes will be removed.

Nomination period runs through Sunday at 8AM (or until Joey deems four joints clear runaways).

Once we tally up the top four sub shops according to your nominations, 4 GMG contributors independently and at the same time order the exact same subs to go from the nominated sub shops.  We pick them up and bring them back to the dock.

Then we place them on the digital scale for the Weigh-In.  We will divide the weight into the price and come up with the best value weight wise. Then we cut it in half and then in quarters to look at the cross section for the equal distribution of tuna.  If a place loads up the sub in the middle and leaves the ends empty they will be exposed.  Packaging and Sogginess Factor will be a new category which will be scored as well.

Then we each take a quarter of the sub and grade based on taste.

We will present the findings in a post to the readership.

I’m pumped for this challenge!

So start sending in your nominations now in the comment section of this post (again if you don’t see words that say leave a comment directly below this post then click on the title of the post and you should see where you can submit a nomination).

Also please share the link through Facebook or twitter using the buttons below the post to get the most nominations as possible.

2021 BLUEFIN BLOWOUT TOURNAMENT UPDATE

Dear Bluefin Blowout enthusiasts:

Today’s warm weather and SW wind help get the adrenaline going from my vantage point on Mussel Point as you enter Gloucester Harbor.  With the longer days approaching, the interest level and communication to our Facebook page and website have us charged up for a tournament.  Not just any tournament, but the best one in the Northeast…..The Bluefin Blowout.  It might be because some of the relaxing restrictions of the Covid-19 lockdown, the weather, boats getting ready to be dipped or maybe the new season of Wicked Tuna.  All that said, we are still in a holding pattern.  The best way I can describe our situation is that the state and the city of Gloucester still have guidelines that must be adhered to.  The last thing we need is for all the good that is the Bluefin Blowout be tarnished by us jumping to a schedule that we really can’t promise.  We know that our friends at Cape Ann’s Marina want to put on the tournament; we sure have the most outstanding fleet of competitive captains and crews; and the best Bluefin Tuna fishery in the Northeast just miles from the Annisquam. We also know that the city still has St. Peter’s Fiesta on hold as well as many of the 5k road races that take place on spring and summer weekends.  So we have a challenge and that challenge is for me to continue to work with Cidalia, Drew, and Kruti as we wait patiently for more news that restrictions will continue to be lifted. It may take as long as Memorial Day to make a decision.  The scheduled dates of the tournament are 7/29 to 7/31.  We would hope to hold our second ever Bluefin Bash on Monday, 7/26.  This Alzheimer’s benefit dinner and auction raised over $200,000 when we last put it on in 2019.  The total charitable donations were $366,000 that year breaking all records of the past.  I guess I could have simply written “we still don’t know,” but I really want all our teams, spectators, and sponsors to know that we will do everything we can to put on the Bluefin Blowout in the best fishing community in New England….Glosta!

Warren Waugh

Breakfast crowd….

March 9, 2020/March 9, 2021

Reflection on still waters.