1 Book 1 Island: A Family Sea Fair

Joseph Tormay of Coast Guard Station Brant Point explains Coast Guard basic training to a family at the 1 Book 1 Island Family Sea Fair event.

Nantucketers gathered at the Cyrus Peirce Middle School gymnasium on Feb 2 for the 1 Book 1 Island Family Sea Fair, where a number of local sea-faring organizations, merchants, and artisans were on display.

Jim Lentowski, Executive Director of the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, helped to spearhead the event for families and kids on Nantucket. The Family Sea Fair, he said, was "an opportunity to better understand the connection that the island traditionally and currently has with the sea around us."

He continued, "This is the culminations of about five months worth of work by the committee, primarily the executive directors of 14 island organizations."

The organizations that helped to plan the event included: Artists Association of Nantucket, Egan Maritime Foundation, Nantucket Atheneum, Nantucket Boys & Girls Club, Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Council on Aging, Nantucket Historical Association, Maria Mitchell Association, Poetry Slam, Nantucket Preservation Trust, Nantucket Public Schools, and Publc Radio Broadcasting Station 91.1 WNAN.

Artists such as NHS teacher and Lightship Basketweaver Ritch Leone, painter and scrimshander David Lazarus, expert flyfisherman Rick Blair and expter lure-tier Kitty Kania, and Coast Guard Station Brant Point were just a few of the names that were there to educate the community on their maritime-related careers.

Janet Schulte, Executive Director of the Maria Mitchell Association, had a hand in helping out at the Family Sea Fair as well. "I think it's fantasti," she said, "It's a great way to show the community involvement...it allows them to interact in a very different way."

For more events from 1 Book 1 Island, check out our events calendar. And stay tuned for a slideshow from this fun-filled event, coming soon.