For a while now the East Boston Harborkeepers, a group founded in 2016 to promote climate resiliency, has been fostering environmental stewardship along the neighborhood’s shoreline.
On Saturday, July 20, the Harborkeepers will host the second annual Marine and Maritime Festival at Constitution Beach.
The event, sponsored by HYM, Channel Fish, Cape Air, Save the HarborSave the Bay Better Beaches Program and the Massachusetts DCR, will kickoff at 11 a.m. and lasts until 3 p.m.
Harborkeepers founder and director, Magdelena Ayed, said there will be a whole host of activities throughout the day at the free family event. The festival will feature marine activities, art, performances by Veronica Robles Cultural Center, demonstrations by the United States Coast Guard, pirates, activities by the New England Aquarium and many more engaging and fun things to do.
“This event really aims to bring environmental stewardship to the community,” said Ayed. “We want to get the community excited about all the efforts to improve the waterfront. As a coastal community the festival will also provide opportunities to learn about the neighborhood’s maritime history and our waterfront.”
Ayed said that people become stewards when they know the history of a place and become connected to it.
“It’s also a good opportunity to spend time on the waterfront,” said Ayed. “East Boston has this amazing maritime history and we want to start getting children and youth interested in marine science and to teach children about their coastal environment so that maybe when they get older, they might want to go into these marine and maritime fields. Maybe we can guarantee more children doing this type of work and coming back to the community and doing this sort of work. These are amazing professions and once our youth learn more about it they may be more interested in these fields.”
Ayed said with 15 miles of coastline in Eastie, the festival is really a celebration of our maritime roots.
“We are surrounded by water and we are really celebrating the fact that we are lucky to live in this amazing place surrounded by a beautiful clean harbor,” she said.
Harborkeepers is a 501(c)3 non-profit with a mission to promote marine education, community engagement and environmental stewardship in our urban coastal neighborhoods and beyond. Last year hundreds of people attended the Marine and Maritime Festival and no waste was generated by single-use beverage containers.
“We welcome all to attend and encourage people to bring a reusable water bottle,” said Ayed.
For more info please visit www.harborkeepers.org.