A Scaled Down Fall Festival Season Kicks Off With Events in Lewes and Ocean City, Virtual Happenings Elsewhere
In most years, we would be telling you this weekend about the kickoff to the annual fall festival season and the start of two-and-a-half months of fantastic local events and gatherings.
Most of the big events that normally define the fall season in the region, however, have sadly been cancelled this year because of COVID-19 related restrictions that remain in place in both Delaware and Maryland.
That begins this week with the Nanticoke Indian Powwow, the event that always kicks off this fantastic time of the year. But while we’ll miss the powwow, the sandcastle contest, Return Day, the Sea Witch Festival and all of the other large scale events that are taking a hiatus in 2020, we do nonetheless have some fun local happenings to tell you about for this first weekend after Labor Day.
And don’t forget that these next few days also kick off the so-called “Locals Summer,” that time of year when people who live at the beaches year round can enjoy some of the amenities and advantages of the region without the large summer crowds.
We’ll be featuring a blog on this very topic on Friday, September 11, so stay tuned to thecoastalcompass.com for more on this local phenomenon.
But for today, keep reading below as we tell you about a bevy of fun things to do in the coastal region for the weekend of September 11-13. We begin in Lewes and this year’s virtual staging of a local educational event…
2020 Chautauqua Tent Show (September 10-11). As with a lot of things in 2020, this year’s Chautauqua Tent Show in Lewes is going to have a bit of a different look and feel to it.
Events will still be taking place this Friday and Saturday at the Zwaanandael Museum, but they’ll be held without a live audience and will instead be streamed via Zoom in accordance with current health mandates.
This year’s 22nd annual event celebrates the 100th anniversary of American women being granted the right to vote and is titled “Women’s Work: Campaigning for Social Change.”
Also for the first time this year, the Chautauqua Tent Show is being held in both Sussex and New Castle Counties. Events in Lewes are scheduled for September 10 and 11, from 12 to 8:30 p.m., followed on September 19 and 20, from 1 to 7:30 p.m., on The Green in New Castle.
Both events are free to stream.
For more information about this year’s Chautauqua Tent Show, call 302-645-1148 in Sussex County and 302-323-4453 if you plan on making the trip to New Castle County.
Youth Fishing Tournament at Cape Henlopen State Park (September 12). Grab your fishing poles this Saturday and head out to Cape Henlopen State Park for the annual youth fishing tournament on the pier.
Scheduled for 8 to 11 a.m., with registration beginning an hour prior to the start time, the tournament is open to children 15 years and under. There’s a $10 fee per child, with all entrants receiving a free t-shirt.
Several prizes will be awarded during the course of the day, including for the largest fish caught, the most fish caught and the first fish caught.
If it happens to rain this Saturday, the event will instead be held on Sunday, September 13.
Visit www.friendsofcapehenlopen.org for more information on this fun, family friendly event.
Virtual Coastal Cleanup 2020 (September 12). This year’s 33rd Annual Delaware Coastal Cleanup is still scheduled, but it won’t be a one-day mass gathering as in past years due to COVID-19 concerns.
Instead of a group gathering, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) is asking residents and visitors to instead help to make the beaches cleaner on their own time and in their own way. The beaches need cleaning in 2020 just as they do in any other year, it’s just going to be a different effort in 2020.
To learn more on how you can help clean up area beaches, visit the DNREC page here or www.oceanconservancy.org.
