POPULAR MARITIME CULTURE PROGRAM RETURNS TO CHILDREN’S MUSEUM

LONG ISLAND CHILDREN’S MUSEUM

11 Davis Avenue, Garden City, NY   www.licm.org   (516) 224-5800

Something Fishy is Going on at the Children’s Museum – Visitors to the Museum will get up close with friends from the sea during LICM’s Saltwater Stories: Life On (and Under) the Bay.  The weekend series explores Long Island’s deep connections to maritime culture.

POPULAR MARITIME CULTURE PROGRAM RETURNS TO CHILDREN’S MUSEUM

Saltwater Stories Weekend Looks at Life On (and Under) the Bay!

Old salts and new are invited to set sail at the Long Island Children’s Museum (LICM) on Saturday, January 14 and Sunday, January 15 from 12:30 to 4 p.m. for Saltwater Stories: Life On (and Under) the Bay. The weekend will allow visitors to immerse themselves in Long Island maritime culture including fishing, ecology, arts and crafts, cuisine and industry.  The Saltwater Stories weekend is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

“The Saltwater Stories weekend provides visitors with the opportunity to immerse themselves in ‘living history,’” explains LICM President Suzanne LeBlanc.  “They will learn about an industry that has shaped our community directly from the individuals who are keeping the traditions and techniques passed down to them through generations alive.”  Most importantly, she adds, “Now they become tradition bearers for a future generation.”

Children and adults will have the opportunity to learn from “tradition keepers” as they share the customs and skills that have been passed down in their family and community through the generations.  Each afternoon, visitors will have the chance to see, touch and practice with the tools and materials these tradition keepers use to live and work on the bay.  The “tradition keepers” providing the “living history” lesson  with museum visitors include: John Buczak, a commercial bayman from Bay Shore; Bill Hamilton, a pound trap fisherman and boat builder from Patchogue; Freeport bayman Tom Jefferies; John Remsen, a killey trapper from Freeport; George Rigby, a master decoy carver from Center Moriches; Joey Scavone,  a commercial fisherman in Freeport; Flo Sharkey, a second generation baywoman who works in Patchogue;  Tony Sougstad, a dragger fisherman from Freeport; Chuck Tekula, fisherman and maritime advocate; fisherman Pete Wenczel and Collin Weyant, who is keeping up the traditions taught to him by his father, the late baymen Cory Weyant.

Keeping Maritime traditions alive – LICM visitors will learn how to use “tools of the trade” from Long Island baymen on January 14-15, 2012

Children can delve a little deeper into maritime culture as they explore life “under the bay” as they meet and touch the animals that inhabit Long Island’s waterways.  Fish tales will be told as the baymen share their experience catching the eels, crabs and clams they have brought with them to the Museum.

The Long Island Children’s Museum has worked with Nancy Solomon, folklorist and Executive Director of Long Island Traditions on the development of this popular program series, first presented in 2010.   At 3:30 p.m. each day, visitors are invited to join Solomon in the LICM Theater to view the documentary,  “ The Baymen,” featuring Saltwater Stories participants Flo Sharkey, John Buczak and other crabber, clammers and killey trappers. The 1-hour video explores the history and contemporary hardships faced by baymen, and their future on Long Island.

All activities will be held at the Long Island Children’s Museum, 11 Davis Avenue, Garden City, NY. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Museum admission: $11 for adults and children over 1 year old, $10 seniors, FREE to museum members and children under 1 year old. Additional fees for theater and special programs may apply. For additional information, contact 516-224-5800.