State of Wellfleet Harbor Conference Today!

Head over to the Wellfleet Elementary School for the 2011 State of Wellfleet Harbor Conference. It's free, and interesting.

How Healthy is Wellfleet Harbor?

For nine years Wellfleet Elementary School has hosted the State of Wellfleet Harbor Conference. The 2011 date is November 5. The goal of this free conference is to provide the community with information about current and ongoing research, monitoring projects, and issues related to Wellfleet Harbor and its watershed. For more details, go here.

This year I contributed some blog photos for the informal slide show during the breaks. Here's what was requested: "We are looking for any kind of photo that shows the resources and landscape of Wellfleet Harbor and people using it appropriately."

For those of you who follow the NStar issue, know that I suggested, in August, that Professor Craig Slatin from Lowell be invited to speak on the probable contamination of the Cape Cod aquifer by NStar, and was told my suggestion came too late, that the speakers for 2011 had already been chosen. Hopefully, if enough of us show interest, perhaps our sole-source aquifer will be included in 2012, the 10th year the conference will take place.

One appropriate use of the harbor has become walking beside the marina. Sven and I love this walk. The view is constantly changing. We have noticed, of late, an increase in the number of benches. Pedestrians often sit and rest a while. It's always fun to discover the inscriptions on new memorial plaques. When we read about the man who swam with dolphins in 1950, we always remember our friend Brewster Fox. The plaque above speaks to the love that unites families. Have you ever walked around the marina? Do you have a favorite walk that you never grow tired of? Would you like to have your name on a memorial bench?

Sunset Over Wellfleet Harbor

Wellfleet to Hold Harborfest in June

I do not know what the objects in this photo are, but I found them interesting and picturesque. They poked out of the water at low tide and, without my glasses, from a distance, looked like seabirds, with buoys for bellies. I spotted this strange flock last week when Sven and I went to the harbor for some exercise. Wellfleet's marina has become one of my favorite walks. There's a nifty sidewalk that is one half mile long, so we have to walk it several times to get the type of workout LeCount Hollow Beach offers. More people will discover the marina this spring during Harborfest, now in preliminary planning stages. A date has been selected, June 12. There will be a boat show and the promotion of charter/fishing events, a Marine Flea Market, a "clamboil." The Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary will hold educational events in conjunction. The day will close with a concert or dance of some kind in the evening. Volunteers are still very much in demand, so if you are interested in participation or have any input to provide, please contact Paul Pilcher through town hall.

What's Happening this Weekend?

There's an interesting event going on in Wellfleet today, in case you happen to be around, the Annual State of the Harbor Conference, which offers a lot of specific information about Wellfleet Harbor and is always worthwhile. (I attended last year's conference but do not know whether I will be able to make it this morning or not.)

I also want to mention the buzz about "Promise," performed as a world premiere at WHAT, added at the last minute and outside the regular season. Here's a chance to see a play before it goes to Broadway. Read about how this production came about and why Wellfleet was chosen here.