This popular event begins with a workshop where participants construct model boats from kits that are provided at the Lee Mansion Gardens, and ends with a competetive regatta at Redd's Pond. BRING THE KIDS - BRING YOUR FOLKS - BUILD & SAIL YOUR VERY OWN BOAT! These small treasures are more than just toys, they really sail. This is a fun, educational activity the whole family will enjoy.
Fireflys, also called lightning bugs, appear for only a few weeks in the early summer to delight us with their luminous nighttime dance and light show. In June, the fireflies delight us with their nighttime dance and spectacular light show. Learn about the life of a firefly then go on a walk led by the park interpreter, to observe firefly behavior and see them close up. Bring a net or jar to catch fireflies. Wear comfortable walking shoes and bug spray are recommended.
Maudslay State Park invites you to a twilight hike! Join the park interpreter for an evening walk to view and experience the changes in nature during twilight. A different route each week, so make it a weekly event!
Families, Friends, and Beachgoers of all ages! Bring your buckets, shovels, and creativity to this cherished festival family event. Register your Family or group to build a castle or sculpture together! Entry is free and open to all ages and families at the start of the event. Please bring your own buckets, shovels, and building tools! We will have some extras available on site if needed. Entries will be judged by a small team of local children, and prizes given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, as well as a Spirit Award.
Join Three Moons Rising Gift Shop and create your own flying art! Buy a kite kit on site or BYO Kite! Whether flying a kite or just attending for the fun, the multitude of kites in the sky are a site to enjoy.
Chalk This Way is Marblehead Festival of the Arts inaugural event highlighting 23 amateur and professional chalk artists who will transform our sidewalks into a captivating one-of-a-kind arts experience. Sidewalk Art will be distributed throughout the main areas of town and where other festival activities are happening. If you are an amateur or professional artist and would like to display your favorite place in town through chalk.
Interested Artist Information:
Young in Age or Young at Heart - All ages welcomed to Art on The Avenue located on Atlantic Avenue part of the Marblehead Festival of Arts. Paint your own pottery with Hestia Creations, make jewelry with EOS studio, learn about plants from Marblehead Garden Center or participate in choreographed dances with Elloree Jennings from A Performing Arts Academy. Face painting and other arts booths will be available up and down Atlantic Avenue. Enjoy the arts, shopping, and dining in another one of our favorite parts of town!
This free, hands-on, community art experience is primarily geared toward children under 10 years of age and children must be accompanied by an adult. The line-up of projects this year include play-dough making, decorative wands, creating musical instruments, and Doodle Top drawing which captures a “playful art” theme for a celebration packed with fun.
Ipswich Public Library invites kids and families to kick off the Summer Reading program with Otha Day's Drum to the Beat! The library is hosting a live interactive musical session on the lawn of the Hall Haskell House at 36 S. Main Street. The summer theme is Find Your Voice, and the Children's Room at Ipswich Public Library has planned an amazing drumming program to start off Summer Reading. This program promises lots of audience participation and is designed as a family event for children and the young at heart.
Take a self guided tour at Maudslay State Park during the spring bloom season! Maudslay’s laurels have covered the banks of the Merrimack River for centuries. From 1849 to 1870, Mr. and Mrs. William Ashby of Newburyport hosted annual literary parties at the Laurel Grounds called the “Feast of Flowers.” Guests included such famous figures as John Greenleaf Whittier, who composed several poems about the site. The formal gardens at Maudslay State Park bloom from May through August with a vast array of species and can be enjoyed before or after a wooded trail walk.
