At 10:30 p.m. on Monday, June 14, a special "guest" arrived on the National Mall: Joy Parks, a 67-foot, 17-ton Chesapeake Bay oyster-dredging workboat, known as a skipjack. Even without a mast, this symbol of the region attracted visitors who wanted to learn about commercial and recreational fishing, boat building and restoration, water fowling, keeping the waters safe, cooking the catch, and other traditions of the coastal region stretching from Long Island, New York, to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
The Joy Parks helped illustrate the program theme of "yesterday, today, and tomorrow." As a new mast was shaped, and finally "stepped in" by ship restoration apprentices, visitors viewed the revival of older techniques that give new life to a historic vessel. Maritime blacksmith Kelly Smyth fashioned iron hardware for the mast, showing how those with maritime skills share their expertise across the region. Former skipjack cap-tains (including the last owner of the Joy Parks, Captain Dan Murphy of Tilghman Island, Maryland) told their stories about the hard work of oyster dredging. The Oyster Recovery Partnership let children try their hand at oyster tonging, and spread its message about efforts to restore the tasty bivalve, severely depleted by disease and overfishing, to the Bay. During Chesapeake Bay Day on July 3, oyster shuckers from the Chesapeake Bay challenged those from the Delaware Bay to a shucking con-test; the mounting pile of shells gave visitors some idea why Crisfield, Maryland, was, literally, "the city built on oyster shells" and how Bivalve, New Jersey, got its name.
Few people before the Festival knew the huge role of menhaden—the oily little fish that brought prosperity to towns like Reedville, Virginia, and Lewes, Delaware—in the Mid-Atlantic region's economy and history. The Northern Neck Chantey Singers from Lancaster and Northumberland counties in Virginia shared the work songs that established rhythm for raising menhaden nets before mechanization, and retired African-American menhaden captains told their stories of the dangers and rewards of bringing in millions of fish from as far north as New England and as far south as the Gulf Coast. In the Maritime Kitchen, chef Kenneth Pinkard demonstrated some of his favorite recipes to feed crews aboard large menhaden boats as well.
In a busy Marsh Life area, master decoy carvers from six Mid-Atlantic states piled up the shavings, while duck- and goose-calling expert Glenn Phillips provided appropriate background sound. Staff of the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art in Salisbury, Maryland, organized a duck decoy contest. Meanwhile, Chatmon Bryant from Alligator in northeastern North Carolina recruited visitors and volunteers to put the finishing touches on a large duck blind model.
And those are only a few of the highlights of the Water Ways program, which also included gospel music, interactive displays on creating nautical charts and safe boating practices, a model boat-floating tank, tips on recreational fishing in the region, an American Indian shad restoration project, a sail-making loft, and a full-scale pound net model in which kids could "act like a fish."
The program, which was the combined effort of many Mid-Atlantic maritime organizations, museums, environ-mental groups, and government agencies, will have a life after the Festival on Web pages being developed by Center staff and interns. When these pages are launched, hope-fully sometime in 2005, participants and visitors will be able to relive great moments of the program on the Mall. A "Meet the Participant" feature will allow visitors to hear and see some of the fishermen and women, decoy carvers, cooks, singers, and other Festival participants through audio and video clips and photographs. Links to all of the Web sites of regional museums, environmental projects, and other helpful and interesting sites will be provided as well. Visitors will even be able to see the Joy Parks at her new home at the Piney Point Museum in St. Mary's County, where she was moved after the Festival was over.
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