The 2019 Great New York State Fair Maritime Exhibit includes four Ask the Experts Days. Personnel with New York Sea Grant, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Great Lakes Research Consortium, and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry will be available on selected days at the Fair. Above, boat builder Rich Bush, left, of the H. Lee White Maritime Museum of Oswego, N.Y. and Dave White with New York Sea Grant Great Lakes at the 2018 NY State Fair. Credit: New York Sea Grant.

Want to Know about Water Technology, Safety, Quality?
Ask the Experts on Special Demonstration Days at the Great New York State Fair

Contacts: 

Dave White, Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist, New York Sea Grant, E: dgw9@cornell.edu, P: 315-312-3042

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

Syracuse, N.Y., August 15, 2019 - Ever wondered what an underwater drone can do? Are the life vests aboard your boat Coast Guard-approved? Could your boat pass a Vessel Safety Check? Do you have concerns about water quality or the possibility of harmful algal blooms on a nearby lake or pond? Would you like to know how recreational boaters can help slow the spread of aquatic invasive species?

The Great New York State Fair, New York Sea Grant, Great Lakes Research Consortium, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary will host Ask the Expert Days during the 2019 Great New York State Fair to provide answers to visitors’ water-related questions. Personnel will be at the new Great New York State Fair Maritime Exhibit featuring 100 years of recreational boating in the NY Experience of the NYS Fairgrounds in Syracuse, N.Y., on selected days as follow:

Thursdays, August 22, August 29: Ask the Experts Boating Days: 
Demonstrations include emergency flare instruction and lighting by U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary (USCGA) personnel. Established by Congress in 1939, today the USCGA has more than 26,000 members serving across the U.S. in 825 local units with 100 vessels and 160 aircraft. Boating safety and Wear It! life jacket education are priority missions for the USCGA, housed in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Learn more at http://cgaux.org.

Tuesday, August 27: Ask the Experts Water Technology Day:
Great Lakes Research Consortium (GLRC) and New York Sea Grant personnel will demonstrate remotely-operated aquatic research vehicles in the State Fair Pond along with aerial drones used for Great Lakes’ aquatic research. A GLRC remote data-sensing buoy will be in the State Fair Pond transmitting data to the nearby dry land-marina exhibit with boats representing the evolution of recreational boating in 20th-century America with boats significant to New York State history.

The GLRC is an organization of 18 colleges and universities in New York State with nine affiliate campuses in Ontario, Canada, dedicated to collaborative research and education on the Great Lakes. Nearly 400 faculty, with student support, are conducting research in every facet of Great Lakes science. GLRC is housed at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), Syracuse, N.Y. Nationally-recognized algal bloom researcher and ESF Professor Dr. Gregory L. Boyer is director of the GLRC. Learn more at www.esf.edu/glrc. 

Wednesday, August 28: Ask the Experts Water Quality Day:
Great Lakes Research Consortium and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry faculty and students will answer questions about water quality issues and concerns and about water data collected by the State Fair Pond GLRC data-sensing buoy, representing similar buoys deployed throughout the Great Lakes region.

The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry operates a campus in Syracuse, N.Y., and 25,000 acres of field stations for research and learning across New York State. It is highly ranked as a “green college” and as a Sierra Magazine “Cool School.” Learn more about ESF undergraduate and graduate programs at www.esf.edu.

The Great New York State Fair runs August 21-September 2, 2019 in Syracuse, N.Y. The New York State Fair became first state fair in the U.S. in 1841. In 2018, the Fair set a third total attendance record in a row with 1,279,010 visitors, making it the third largest state fair in the U.S. Learn more at www.nysfair.ny.gov.

More Info: 2019 Great New York State Fair Maritime Exhibit Sponsors and Partners

Sponsors: Great New York State Fair, New York Sea Grant, Boating Industries Association of Upstate NY, and H. Lee White Maritime Museum of Oswego, NY

Partners:  Empire Dock & Lift, Baldwinsville, NY; Antique Boat Museum, Clayton, NY; Finger Lakes Boat Museum, Hammondsport, NY; Great Lakes Research Consortium, Syracuse, NY; SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY; Cornell Biological Field Station, Bridgeport, NY; Great Lakes Seaway Trail; Lake Champlain Sea Grant, Plattsburgh, NY, and Burlington, VT; Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, VT; Smith Boys Marine with locations across NYS; and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 33 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program. 

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources. 

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter,"NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.