Mystic Seaport Museum comes alive for Wintertide festivities
Feb. 18—MYSTIC — After a long winter's rest, Wintertide awakened the Mystic Seaport Museum on Saturday for the new year. From live reindeer and Saint Bernard dogs, to ice sculptures and s'mores, there was something for everyone at the three-day event.
"We call it Wintertide, but from us, it's kind of like the museum coming back to life after the winter," Museum President Peter Armstrong said Saturday.
The first major event of the year for the museum brings in visitors to explore its "blockbuster exhibition," the Sargent, Whistler and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano, and a plethora of outdoor activities.
"It's nice just to get the public out and see them enjoying the fruits of our labor, the things that we've been doing over the winter," he added.
Previously called Ice Festival, this was the first time in the event's five-year history it was dubbed Wintertide. The previous name was in collaboration with a visiting exhibit called "Death in the Ice" that detailed the Franklin Expedition from 1845.
"It was such a success and we saw that there was real space for families to come and enjoy the seaport in the winter when they're not necessarily thinking about coming to a place like this that's heavily outdoors," said Arlene Marcionette, the museum's director of public programs.
Marcionette said each year the museum tries to change the event's "headliner." For this year, it was a family of reindeer from Hamburg, N.Y.
Randy, Debbie, Lucy and Ahna from Antler Ridge Reindeer Farm made their way down to Mystic and stole the show. People were gathered around their enclosure to learn more about them, as well as pet and offer a snack.
"It's been a lot of fun, weather's been great," said owner Mike Jablonski. "Everybody's interested in the reindeer."
Wyatt Babbidge, 12, was spending the day with his family at the museum and said he got a chance to feed the reindeer some raisins, though his favorite part was going below the deck of the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship to learn about life at sea.
"It's a lovely, beautiful day, and we just wanted to come and hang out at the seaport," Lauren Babbidge said as her children pet a Saint Bernard puppy named Kemba.
The family from Stamford makes the hour-and-twenty-minute trek every year for the event and are members of the museum.
"We're just having a good day," Lauren added.
If it's too cold for visitors, Wintertide also offers the option to cozy up by a fire pit with a cup of hot cocoa and make s'mores. Or attendees can head indoors for live music at the meeting house, a show at the planetarium or one of the educational lectures on campus.
"The Mystic Seaport Museum has such amazing grounds, and what we like to do during this event is really maximize what we already have here," Marcionette said of the museum's versatility.
Also on Saturday, visitors could listen to Justin Fornal talk about his attempted swim of the Nares Strait in the Arctic last summer before swimming from the seaport to downtown Mystic.
"I'll swim there and then walk into town and have a beer with whoever will join me," he previously told The Day.
Marcionette said it takes about four months to plan Wintertide and coordinate all the partners, like the reindeer and ice sculptor, and then promote the event properly. She called it "a lot of fun" even though you never quite know what the weather will be like on a February weekend in New England.
This year it was sunny with a high of 39 degrees.
"It's just so nice to have a weekend where the grounds are packed and it feels so alive," Marcionette said.
Armstrong said he enjoys that Wintertide offers something for everyone. He was having a great time just walking around the grounds with his dog, Mr. Chubs, a rescued Black Labrador mix. The self-proclaimed official seaport dog was dressed in a Carhartt jacket, "in case he's got to go into the shipyard and do some work."
"From our point of view, from the staff point of views, its just really nice to welcome back the large numbers of people as we prepare for this season," Armstrong said.
