UConn Advance - September 19, 2005 - Avery Point festivities set for Sept. 24

Fencers, magicians, musicians, and dozens of booths offering food and arts and crafts will fill the lawns of the Avery Point campus Sept. 24, for the second annual Festival by the Sound.

The festivities include demonstrations and displays by UConn researchers. An oceanographic research cruise and a trip to the lighthouse at the mouth of the Thames River also will be offered. For reservations, call 860-445-9007 or 800-364-8472.

Art collectors and whale lovers will be able to enter pre-bids on Whale of an Education, a sculpted whale resting atop a copy of Moby Dick. UConn’s whale is one of 50 that have sprouted up in Southeastern Connecticut during the past two months. The UConn whale will be sold at auction Nov. 18 at the Mystic Marriott Hotel.

The day-long event begins at 10 a.m. and continues into the evening, with the band Sugar Daddy playing on the rear deck of the Branford House at 6 p.m.

UConn researchers will offer demonstrations from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The labs include Meet the Plankton; Take A Deep Breath: Understanding and Measuring Hypoxia in Long Island Sound; Bioluminescent Jellies; The Great Thermohaline Conveyor (about water and the earth’s climate); and Does Water Breathe?

Faculty presentations include Nitrogen and Our Coasts: What’s All the Fuss About? Deep Sea Life; and Wind, Waves, & Weather.

Exhibitors will include UConn archaeologist Kevin McBride; the New London County Historical Society; the Bridgeport Aquaculture School; and a history exhibit about Avery Point.

For more information, see http://www.averypoint.uconn.edu.