Newport County is packed with events this weekend. Here's 5 must-do things for your list.
While events have been a little slower than usual the past couple of weeks, there is no shortage of things to do this weekend locally.
Everyone from animal lovers to boat enthusiasts, music aficionados to network builders will find there's something to do throughout the weekend, with many events taking place across multiple days. So if you're tied up one day, you'll be able to make it another.
There's so much happening locally, we've even left out options outside of Newport County.
Women's Story Festival
The Third Annual Women's Story Festival will be held at Sandywoods Center for the Arts, 43 Muse Way in Tiverton, on Saturday from 2 to 8 p.m.
The festival includes two separate events, with activities, vendors, workshops, author talks and more happening outside from 2 to 6 p.m. That is followed by an evening of storytelling to "enjoy stories told by women, from the heart."
Among the speakers with local ties is Lindsay Guarino, a jazz dance artist, educator and scholar who serves as associate professor and chair of Music, Theatre and Dance at Salve Regina University.
There is also Mary Jane Milici, a 22-year-old who grew up in Portsmouth going to school, modeling, painting and performing classical ballet with the Newport Academy of Dance. In 2019, she was diagnosed with MELAS disease after suffering a massive stroke that took her vision and mobility and has since started her own business.
West Place Animal Sanctuary visitors weekend
The public is invited to visit and fall in love with the furry and feathery farm animal rescues of West Place Animal Sanctuary, 3198 Main Road in Tiverton, on Saturday, Sept. 17 and Sunday, Sept. 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Guests will get up close and personal with alpacas, donkeys, horses, pigs and a variety of other animals, all while learning about the nonprofit organization’s life-saving work. Interactive and guided tours leave every 30 minutes, and guests can explore unique and hand-crafted items from the farm in the West Place gift shop.
Registration is open to all. Tours will sell out, so advance online registration is recommended at westplace.org/visitors-weekends. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under, and all donations benefit the farm animals and wildlife of West Place.
Newport International Boat Show
The Newport International Boat Show returns to the Newport Yachting Center Marina from Sept. 15-18.
One of the country's largest in-water events, the show encompasses more than 14 acres of Newport’s waterfront and hosts hundreds of exhibitors, dealers and manufacturers, showcasing new powerboats and sailboats, as well as marine equipment, services and accessories.
Features of the show include the Newport for New Products Awards Program, showcasing new boats and boating products making their United States debut. Industry experts judge each entry on opening day and awards are given in several categories.
Additionally, Freedom Boat Club and the Narragansett Sailing School will provide in-water training sessions for powerboaters and sailors covering everything from the basics to docking and intermediate skill builders and will even include courses for women-only.
New for this year, visitors can join Voice of the Oceans to support their global initiative committed to ridding the oceans of plastic pollution. Making a stopover in Newport is the vessel Kat, which will be docked on the south-side of the show. Come aboard to meet the crew and take a tour of the unique vessel or partake in a classroom seminar at The Maritime Center, both being offered all four days of the show.
Newport Classical Community Concert
Newport Classical is presenting its first community concert of the 2022-2023 season at Miantonomi Memorial Park, 120 Hillside Ave. in Newport, on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 2:30 p.m.
The New York Brass Arts Trio –– Joe Burgstaller, trumpet; David Jolley, french horn; and Haim Avitsur, trombone –– will perform in the first of Newport Classical’s four community concerts. Their program includes Bach’s Sinfonias, Beethoven’s Trio, Bartok’s Rumanian Dance, Chick Corea’s Children’s Songs, Summertime by Gershwin, and Piazzola’s Libertango.
Audiences can enjoy a casual and engaging concert right in their own Newport neighborhood, featuring unique classical and jzzz masterworks of all eras that have been adapted for this innovative instrumentation. The performance is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is requested.
Child Safety Day
The Tiverton Police Department invites the community to the Fourth Annual Child Safety Day on Sunday, Sept. 18 from noon to 4 p.m., held rain or shine at Grinnell’s Beach/Stonebridge Commons, 1800 Main Road in Tiverton.
The event will feature many fun activities and opportunities for families to learn about safety and wellness from community organizations, including child safety seat checks, a bicycle safety course touch-a-truck and more.
The event will also feature special guests Chase and Marshall from Paw Patrol (from noon to 2 p.m.), along with a DJ, face painting and arts and crafts.
In addition to the above activities, children will have the chance to win one of four new bicycles through raffle drawings, and children and adults will be able to participate in drawings for various themed raffle baskets.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Things to do in Newport County, Sept. 17-18: West Place, Boat Show
