Harborfest, Saturday June 28th, summer hot steamy foggy morning in Cape May. Setting up for tabling, Surfrider South Jersey in its rightful place celebrating the surrounding waters. The Nature Center of Cape May, hosting a few environmental groups. Here we are, on the Harbor, the charter boats getting in their morning trips, the food trucks and vendors setting up on Pittsburgh Ave that runs along the harbor. All getting set for the few thousand that enjoy this event each year. Our chapter has tabled here for the past 5 years, featuring the Ocean Friendly Gardens program by having kids paint sea creatures on a rain barrel. On display are 2 more barrels painted and built by husband and wife team Carol Jones and Bill Stuempfig. 

 

Ever exciting or a little slow the start time of 10:00 am brought few people. A half hour later Pittsburgh Ave was closed, a gas leaking a vendor’s propane tank. People still arrived via a circuitous route. A slight wind shift cooled off the damp air with puffs of ocean breeze. Cape May as the name describes, is a cape at the south end of New Jersey. The Atlantic to the East, Delaware Bay to the South and West. Maritime to the max. Want a wind shift, wait for the tide to turn, want fog, cool water next to air a bit warmer, you got it. Want surf, the cape bends around to the west, northeast wind can be offshore bliss, however many swells miss Cape May. And the locals love it. They know where to catch it firing. 

 

The Cape waters host a variety and plethora of aquatic species. April through May hosts the stars of the nature show; bottlenose dolphin and osprey drive to feast on Menhaden, known locally as bunker.

 

Back to the festival, the children stole the show! Choose your critter to paint, stay in the chalked boundaries on the barrel,  

 

Pick your colors, from mermaids to sea turtles, from horseshoe crab to whales, you name it, the kids were on it. And, for the first time, the parents grabbed a brush and did their thing. Meanwhile, Bill, back at the table, trying to engage people with Surfrider exploits, finding that selling a rainbarrel to a homeowner that is only here for a few weeks a year is futile.

 

All in all a great event, truly what our chapter thrives on, meeting people, showing our love for the ocean, welcoming Margo as she appears out of the harbor.