Happy Pirates, Live Raptors, Toy Boat Building, Water Rescue Demonstrations, Boat Tours

Contacts:

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

John Cannaday, New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Recreation and Tourism Specialist, P: 315-849-4436, E: jdc378@cornell.edu

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

Oswego, New York, April 25, 2025 - The H. Lee White Maritime Museum and New York Sea Grant have announced children’s activities to be part of the 2025 Lake Ontario Waterfront Festival in Oswego, New York, on Saturday, May 17, 2025. The free event will include pirates, toy boat building and racing, maritime theme t-shirt art, and the opportunity to see live raptor birds. The new hours for the festival are 12 - 4 p.m. along the Oswego Port Authority West Pier at 1 West First Street in Oswego, New York. The Lake Ontario Waterfront Festival is sponsored in part by Adventure at Burritt’s, Eagle Beverage, the City of Oswego and the Port Authority of Oswego.
 
New for 2025 is a visit from the Braddock Bay Raptor Research program with live birds educating festival visitors from 12 - 3 p.m. 

The Happy Pirates entertainment group from Rochester will be providing seafaring family fun, activities, and laughter throughout the afternoon with Captain Gully with his ukelele, the prankster Scuttle; and a silly Sharkbait crewmate.

Youth ages 5 to 15 are invited to build a toy boat to race in the Lake Ontario Waterfront Festival Sailboat Sprint races, supported by Raby’s ACE Hardware, on the Pier. To make a boat ahead of the event, free model kits, made by the Oswego Middle School wood shop, are available from the H. Lee White Maritime Museum: call ahead to 315-342-0480, the Children’s Museum of Oswego at 7 W. Bridge Street, and SNAX Enterprises, 167 W. 1st Street, Oswego. Supply permitting, boats may also be built at the festival. 

The children’s activities area will also have a maritime theme t-shirt art area staffed by retired Oswego City School District art teacher Julie Smith. Bring your own shirt or receive one free at the event while supplies last. Raby’s Ace Hardware is co-sponsoring this activity.

The 2025 Lake Ontario Waterfront Festival in Oswego on May 17th will include Great Lakes science exhibits and resources, including New York Sea Grant’s exhibits with free Enviro-Time Storytime Recommended Environmental Reading Lists for K-12-age children. Credit: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant will have free Enviro-Time Storytime Recommended Environmental Reading Lists for K-12 available at its exhibit along with U.S. Coast Guard-approved life vests on display, including one sized for children.

Weather permitting, the Oswego Fire Department will be conducting mock rescue demonstrations in the water off the West First Street Pier. The U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and New York Sea Grant will have exhibits, kayaks, and boating safety information along with Great Lakes, environmental conservation, and tourism exhibitors. 


New York Sea Grant's banner display at the 2025 Central New York Boat Show this past February. Credit: John Cannaday/NYSG

Boats of all types and e-bikes will be on display: from modern-style motorized boats to kayaks, historic and antique vessels. Tours will be available of an 1850-replica schooner and Derrick Boat 8 Great Lakes, Weather permitting, boat rides to tour historic Oswego Lighthouse will be available at Wright’s Landing from 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. for the special event price of $20 per adult and $15 for children – not recommended for children younger than 5. Contact the H. Lee White Maritime Museum at 315-342-0480 to reserve a time. 

Admission will be free during the festival to the H. Lee White Maritime Museum and its new exhibit featuring the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal. The museum in Oswego’s Historic Maritime District captures the fascinating history of more than 400 years of local and American maritime heritage with exhibits and an extensive collection of artifacts, images, archival records, original artwork, models, and historic vessels. Learn more at www.hlwmm.org, on Facebook, or call 315-342-0480.

More Info: New York Sea Grant

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.

Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (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.

NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.

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.

New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. The program 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.

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 2-3 times a year.