The LT-5 tugboat at the H. Lee White Maritime Museum in Oswego, New York, participated in the World War II June 6, 1944 D-Day Allied forces landing at Normandy. Activities by ham radio operators and in the children’s area at the June 6, 2026 Lake Ontario Waterfront Festival will honor the LT-5’s place in history. Credit: H. Lee White Maritime Museum

Special Features: WWII Historic D-Day Tugboat Activity For Kids, Ham Operators Talking With Museum Ships Worldwide

Contacts:

Mercedes Niess, H. Lee White Maritime Museum Executive Director, P: 315-342-0480, E: Mercedes@hlwmm.org

Megan Cochran, New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Outreach Coordinator, P: 716-270-2490, E: mk2236@cornell.edu 

Kara Lynn Dunn, NYSG's Great Lakes Publicist, P: 315-465-7578, E: karalynn@gisco.net 

Oswego, NY, April 24, 2026 - The H. Lee White Maritime Museum and New York Sea Grant have announced June 6 as the new date for 2026 Lake Ontario Waterfront Festival. Admission is free. The family-friendly event is held from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Oswego’s Historic Maritime District along the 1 West First Street Pier. 

Special activities for the 2026 festival will highlight America’s 250th anniversary as a nation with a children’s education activity focused on the National Historic Landmark World War II U.S.S. Large Tugboat LT-5 that participated in the June 6, 1944 D-Day landing of Allied forces at Normandy. The LT-5 is part of the H. Lee White Maritime Museum’s collection of historic vessels.

America’s history of service to the nation by ham radio operators will come alive with Fred Legawiec and other “hams” operating from the museum’s historic Derrick Boat No. 8 along Oswego’s West First Street Pier. They will be talking with operators aboard museum ships worldwide as part of the Museum Ship Weekend Event on Saturday and Sunday 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Lake Ontario Waterfront Festival activities will also feature maritime history and recreation, the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, environmental protection and research, seafaring song and dance with The Happy Pirates, and local tourism. 

New York Sea Grant will have information on safe and environmentally friendly boating practices, emergency distress signals, and how to properly size a life vest for children, adults, and the family dog. 

Local recreational boating resources will be represented with pontoon boats from festival co-sponsor Adventure at Burritt’s Marine and Powersports. The Oswego Yacht Club and Fair Haven Kayak will also be on site.

The festival is located alongside the H. Lee White Maritime Museum in Oswego’s Historic Maritime District on the West Pier. The museum with several new exhibits for 2026 and its Treasure Chest gift shop will be open. The museum has an extensive collection of artifacts, images, archival records, original artwork, models, and historic vessels, including the National Historic Landmark LT-5, one of the last remaining wartime tugboats of its era. 

Watch for more information at www.hlwmm.org as festival organizers add activities and exhibits. The Lake Ontario Waterfront Festival is sponsored in part by Eagle Beverage and Adventure at Burritt’s Marine and Powersports in Oswego.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG) is a university-based, statewide Federal-State collaboration between the State University of New York (SUNY), Cornell University, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is one of 34 university-based programs that connects research, extension, and education with the needs of coastal communities, environments, and economies through NOAA. 

Since 1971, NYSG has supported science-based solutions for a wide range of water-related challenges and opportunities across the state. Through NYSG’s efforts, university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science and technical information to educational institutions, businesses, agencies, and industries; federal, state and local governments; the media; and the interested public. The program is administratively based at Stony Brook University (SBU) and Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). 

NYSG historically leverages on average a 5.5-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. The State benefits from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.

New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes quarterly.