To say that this will be a busy weekend on the New England waterfront may be an understatement. Following the 4th of July festivities in Boston, OpSail 2012 CT starts today in New London, CT, with an impressive fleet of ships.  Only about 50 miles away, the Ocean State Tall Ships Festival 2012 in Newport, Rhode Island, also starts today.  The Newport festival also has an impressive fleet attending.  Both festivals run today through Monday.  Exactly why anyone though that it was a good idea to schedule two tall ship festivals on the same weekend, 50 miles apart is not clear. Fortunately either festival is a good choice.

In addition to overlapping tall ships festivals, on Sunday in near-by Providence Rhode Island there is the RI Cape Verdean Heritage Festival.  Cape Verdeans started arriving in the region aboard New England whaling ships in the early 19th century and stayed to become fisherman and sailors.  There are now an estimated 500,000 Cape Verdean immigrants and their descendents living in the United States.

Also near by Newport, is the 31st Annual Snug Harbor Shark Tournament, in Wakefield, South Kingstown, RI and the 50th Annual Wickford Art Festival, in Wickford, North Kingstown, RI.    And just a bit farther north is the Greater New Bedford Summerfest at the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, New Bedford, Massachusetts which starts today and runs through Sunday.