(Rehoboth Beach, DE)
This is the first Sunday that Bob and I haven’t had to work at the marina since Memorial Day. So what did we do? Bob went fishing and I took off for Indian River Life Saving Station for the Maritime Heritage Festival.
The three hour festival started at noon and when I arrived at twelve ten things were in full swing.
My first stop was the face/hand/arm painting tent. You had your choice of which Sailor Tattoo to have painted.
You usually see kids lined up to have something painted on their face or arm….
….however, this activity proved to be popular with the adults too.
From there it was on to the storytelling pavilion. I don’t know the fella’s name or where he comes from but there was a definite accent as he told the stories of sailors of yesteryear. He not only told his stories with words but also with songs and he was very good with getting his audience in involved with activity and singing.
Of course he was dressed in period costume which just lent that much more to his stories and songs.
He drew quite the crowd and everyone seemed to stay for quite awhile, as if mesmerized by his stories.
I know it was hard for me to walk away but there was more festival for me to check out.
The next exhibit was all about Scrimshaw, a carved or engraved article, especially of whale ivory, whalebone, walrus tusks, or the like, made by whalers as a leisure pastime.
Sailors who hunted whales could only work during daylight hours because it was so dangerous and therefore had many waking hours after dusk to pass. The ability to create art on whalebone was discovered when the sailors were using the ivory and whalebone to make tools. It was noticed that it was easy to carve into and soon discovered that soot and tobacco juice, among other things, would bring the etchings into view.
Today, children and adults alike were able to make their own scrimshaw. Of course instead of whalebone or whale ivory, after all, whale hunting has been outlawed, they used cakes of Dial soap.
I wanted to do this one but as soon as a spot at the table became vacant it was immediately filled.
The next exhibit I checked out was all about ropes and pulleys and how they help even tiny little kids move heavy objects.
This is where I met Kyle and Lexi.
They were so thrilled when they got these bags of flour up off the ground.
Now the life of a sailor back in day wasn’t all work. They had their games too.
I think its called, “Ring Around the Bottleneck”.
Much concentration goes into this game. Even from the spectators, check out the lady in the center.
Because of so many pictures I’m going to end the first part of this post here.
To be continued……
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