Sound Success, Despite the Sun

4/25/2018

Sunday April 22, 2018. Our 3rd annual outdoor SOUNDoff! event was scheduled for 11-3. The forecast called for sun and temperatures near 60, so of course the worry set in….would it be too nice for people to want to visit a museum? A Whaling Museum?

For an outdoor event, the first nice day of the season can be just as hazardous as a downpour or a hurricane (in winter, we do just fine, thank you). Our dilemma running a history museum in the beautiful harbor town of Cold Spring Harbor is that as the snow melts and spring begins, if the weather is too nice, people take to their boats, or the parks, or the hiking trails…very few come to a museum. As I drove into work, I already saw the parking lots filled near the boat ramp and the harbor. My stomach dropped. Hope was fading fast.

However, as I neared the curve to our museum, I was pleasantly surprised with families strolling about our grounds. They came! And not only a few families, but a record number of visitors (500+!) of all ages, with and without children, from near and far, first-timers and folks returning from last year’s event. All the months of planning (how much canola oil and cocoa powder do we need for our oil-spill station?), writing lessons (NO ONE will know what a secchi disc is, Amanda don’t forget to bring your pond water!), collaborating with other organizations (wait, how many tables do we actually have?) really paid off. It was a great event and in talking with folks, it seemed everyone had a great time. With hands-on activities and experiments for kids, lots of info for adults about greener ways to fertilize and protect wildlife, and plenty of live animals for everyone to get to know, it was another great Whaling Museum event (that’s just how we do!). Plus, those 500 visitors each learned something about Long Island Sound they could take with them to help keep our eco-system healthy.

Now that’s a good day at The Whaling Museum (even if it was sunny)!

By Cindy Grimm