Sailfest brings crowds ― and dollars ― to downtown New London
Jul. 9—NEW LONDON — Buccaneers, baptisms and band music marked the final day of this year's Sailfest, an event organizers and local businesses said again this year drew in a heavy crowd of visitors to the downtown area.
At 3 p.m. on Sunday, with just a couple of hours left before the festival was set to end for the year, hundreds of visitors still thronged sections of Bank and State streets, where discs of fried dough and grilled chicken skewers perfumed the air.
Event organizer Barbara Neff said crowds this year were lighter than pre-pandemic levels, but heavier than in 2022.
"People really started coming downtown at around 5 p.m. on Saturday, a little later than usual," she said, praising the work of the city's police and public works crews over the weekend.
This year's festival was also the first two-day iteration of the event. The elimination of Friday from the entertainment schedule came at the request of police officials looking for ways to cut officers' hours.
Neff said if police seek to keep Fridays off future Sailfest calendars, she's willing to abide by that request.
Police officials could not be immediately reached for information on any reported public safety issues associated with the festival. Groups of uniformed city, state and Amtrak officers, some accompanied by police canines, roamed sections of the festival throughout the day.
Sunday attendees had the option of attending an outdoor service hosted by T.H.E. Church on Bank Street where impromptu baptisms were held in an inflatable pool. At Parade Plaza, where a live band blasted music to packed bleachers, youngsters earlier in the day were invited to take part in a pirate "invasion" complete with foam swords they were encouraged to wield in defense of the city.
At the City Pier stage, a band pumped out Latin chords that competed with the whoops and shouts of carnival attraction riders.
While vendors conducted a brisk business selling the kinds of street festival and carnival foods usually only available for the summer months, several local restaurants were also seeing a bump in foot traffic.
At the Blue Duck on Bank Street, patrons packed the eatery's bar, table and patio areas. Owner Sal D'Angelo said Sunday was busy, but Saturday crowds were "absolutely nuts."
"We're seeing a lot of new people in here this weekend, as well as a bunch of familiar faces," he said.
Miguel Gautier, co-owner of New London Eats, said his Bank Street restaurant, only opened for a couple of weeks now, did its busiest day of business on Saturday when trays of macaroni and cheese, loaded baked potatoes and hot dogs were quickly assembled and sold.
"We had two lines at some points 50 people deep," Gautier said. "We ran out of some foods a few times, even with the modified menu we created so our staff could keep up with demand."
