update

Our new Park Ambassador Program is just getting underway. Two students from STEM Magnet School in New London Gianna Rubino and Mia Dorcely, were chosen through an application process that was coordinated by our Park Ambassador Program partner New England Sailing and Science (NESS). The Program gives these students an opportunity to learn about our local history, answer passenger questions about the area, and assist the water taxi mates. As part of the Ambassador Program Mia and Gianna earned their Power Boating Certification through NESS.

This pilot program has been made possible through a generous grant from the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut with additional support from Dominion Energy.

In collaboration with Sea Grant and with support from The Day the Thames River Quest – the first undertaking of this kind for the Park – held Saturday, June 2nd was an outstanding success with approximately 150 participants enjoying three scavenger hunts located at each taxi landing site.

Friends and families put their heads together to follow the word clues leading to the final prize. Most, if not all, of the participants rode the water taxi, which was free between 10 am and noon, in search of another quest. Participants who sent in a photo showing they completed the quest or who made a journal entry at the final location were entered into a prize drawing. June’s prize – a TRHP custom ornament generously donated by Flavours of Life – went to Heidi DeCosta. The Quests are self-guided and can be easily followed by kids ten and older along with a supervising adult. You can download them here.

On Groton Bank Day, Saturday, June 9th, which coincided with the Annual Family Festival at Waterfront Park, over 850 people rode the water taxi courtesy of Electric Boat’s sponsorship. That number represents our boat filled to capacity between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. It was pretty exciting to witness.

 

Is summer ever going to arrive? I’m ready to hang up the fleece jacket and complain about the heat. Fortunately, the cool temps haven’t kept folks away from riding the water taxi and enjoying the wonderful sites in the Park. Over 1600 people have hopped on board to visit sites, have lunch or dinner, go to an event, or just enjoy some time on the water. To give you some perspective, last season we had just over 2,200 riders. Here we are still in June and approaching that number. People are obviously finding out how enjoyable the Thames River Heritage Park experience is. Those of you reading this who have taken a ride, I hope you’re holding onto your water taxi ticket to take advantage of all the great Ride & Save offers your water taxi ticket gets you. If you haven’t, the discounts alone make it worth it to buy another ticket. With all the added value they also make a great gift! We had dinner at On the Waterfront last week and got $5 off each of our meals by showing our season passes. That’s half the cost of a ticket right there. So, take ride, enjoy our little pocket of the world and enjoy some great deals along the way.

As I write this there are only 80 days until Water Taxi season opens on Friday May 25th. Woohoo! It’s hard to believe this will be our third year. We’ve been busy not only getting the water taxis ready but also improving the Park experience. We started this process last November by hearing from our partner sites. Read more.

The biggest news of the new year is the approval of funding for a new water taxi landing at the Submarine Force Museum & USS Nautilus. This is HUGE!! Read more.

No less significant is the “Implementation Award” the Park received from the CT Chapter of the American Planning Association. A host of organizations and dozens of people made this Park a reality. It’s so nice to have the work recognized. Here’s the story.

Our Ride & Save Program is returning with even more offers for riders to take advantage of. Riders – be sure to hold on to your water taxi ticket to be eligible for exclusive discounts and promotions from area businesses. Businesses – get on board with an offer. It’s FREE.

If you rode the water taxi last season you know how easy and wonderful it is to get out on the Thames (and avoid the bridge). Why not enjoy it all season by becoming a member, which includes a season pass – unlimited rides all season? Membership is a great way to support the Park. Read more.

And be sure to take a peek at our new TV spot that will start airing on Atlantic Broadband in May.

In partnership with Sea Grant we will be participating in CT Trails Day on June 2nd by offering three Thames River Quests – one each at New London Waterfront Park, Fort Trumbull, and Fort Griswold. These are self-guided scavenger hunts where you’ll learn about the history of each location and find clues to solve a word puzzle that leads to a treasure box. The water taxi will be free for those participating in the event between the hours of 10 a.m. and noon.

As the summer nears we’re always looking for volunteers. If you like being outdoors, there’s a way for you to help us. Drop me a note.

Looking forward to seeing you in the Park soon.

Cheers,

The Park’s strategic plan calls for “developing collaborative thematic programming between Park partners.” Funded by a grant from the Panoram Foundation we engaged FIO Partners of Chester, CT, a consulting firm that specializes in working with non-profits, to help us through this process. We started by interviewing 20 stakeholders from the community. These included heritage and cultural sites such as the Avery-Copp House, the Hempsted Houses, Friends of Fort Trumbull, Fort Griswold, as well organizations like the Flock Theater, New London Main Street and others.

Our goal was to find out how the Park could help our partner organizations and build an experience that would resonate with a variety of audiences. We then held a one-day retreat. Sixteen stakeholders and representatives from our partner sites attended the January 31st Collaborative Planning Retreat at the Lyman Allyn Museum. There we developed ideas for collaboration and started the exciting work of creating and delivering on the TRHP experience.

We had a productive and enjoyable day brainstorming and planning. We heard many common goals for taking advantage of the rich content and expertise found in each of the heritage sites and pooling these to develop programming and events. Many terrific ideas surfaced and we will be convening again soon to continue the planning. Thanks to our facilitator Anne Yurasek who kept us on track throughout the day.

Thanks to everyone who attended and to the Lyman Allyn for the inspirational venue.