Queenie Festival 2010 roundup
July 12, 2010 by Marineadmin
Filed under Featured
Friday and Saturday’s events were a little bit of a washout to say the least, but thousands headed down to the sunshine in Port Mary for the Queenie Festival Marine weekend on Sunday.
The event ‘A Celebration of the Sea’ included numerous activities taking place over the weekend such as The Manx Mile Swim, Fishing in the Past and Kayaking, as well as live music, cookery demonstrations and the popular as ever touch tanks with real live crabs, lobsters and starfish.
Manx Queenies were the order of the day along the quayside of Port St Mary with visiting stalls and local businesses doing a roaring trade with the strong crowds.
Among the stalls were Queenie’s and bacon from Paddy’s Market, Queenie Festival chocolate from Cocoa Red and superb collection on home made baked cakes courtesy of the ladies from the Manx Wildlife trust all serving up some real afternoon tea treats.
There was herring filleting demonstrations and a number of diving demos’ to give people a flavour of the marine plants, seaweed and wildlife found in the local waters. Live music stages hosted numerous local bands and their was even a rare local performance by the Isle of Man’s MHK’s doing the traditional ‘Manx Scallop Dance’ – it wasn’t to be missed!
Tim Croft, organiser, commented “It’s crucial that when you live on an island surrounded by the coast and the sea that we really understand what role it has on our lives and how we should all work to preserve it for future generations. The Isle of Man Queenie Festival aims to showcase the best of everything the surrounding water have to offer, it really is a celebration of the sea’.
Tim added, “It’s been difficult this year with the weather, but you have to accept that living here on the island, but all in all it’s been a great festival.”
Steve and Kerry Bridgestone from visiting the Isle of Man from Essex with their two young boys Ryan and Jacob said, “It’s a fantastic atmosphere and its very interesting to learn about the Isle of Man’s maritime heritage. We have loved sampling the local Queenie’s taking the Fishing in the past walks and the kids have enjoyed steering the model boats.
