Full schedule of events online at www.rockportusa.com
With record levels of business participation, including shops, galleries, restaurants, and inns, planning has moved into high gear for Rockport’s 58th annual Motif #1 Days, Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21. Every May since 1949 Rockport has celebrated the return of spring and the kick-off of ‘the season’. This year artists will be setting up their easels to paint the Motif and other Rockport scenes, complemented by musicians and street performers, Arts and Flowers weekend, the 4th annual Chowdah Fest, the garden club’s Market Day, and the Rockport Inns’ Yard Sale. Rockport’s retailers will be rolling out their newest lines of spring and summer merchandise, creating special outside displays, and decking out their shops with balloons and Motif #1 banners to create a festive and fun-filled atmosphere throughout the downtown area.
On Bearskin Neck’s Bradley Wharf, the Motif itself will be open both Saturday and Sunday for tours and tales by local photographer and historian Les Bartlett, and Rockport’s school bands will be performing at the Back Beach bandstand Saturday. This promises to be a weekend filled with fun activities and great shopping and dining opportunities for visitors and residents alike.
Galleries will be hosting open houses and artists will be demonstrating their painting at a variety of locales. A Motif #1 painting contest will also be held, with art students and amateur artists competing for the best painting of Rockport’s ‘little old red fishing shack, famous the world over ‘, beloved of artists and photographers'(from ‘The Rockport Anchor’, 1954 and 1955).
Special menus will be offered by Rockport restaurants, and all weekend long, musicians and street entertainers will be performing at multiple locations, including Dock Square, Main Street and Bearskin Neck. A complete calendar of events is available at the Chamber’s website at www.Rockportusa.com. All are encouraged to visit the site often for calendar and planning updates.
Every local business and community organization is welcome and encouraged to participate in and support Motif # 1 Days this year. For further information, please call or visit the Rockport Chamber of Commerce at 3 Whistlestop Mall.
The Rockport Chamber’s Retail Committee will be holding a bake sale at the Dock Square island on Saturday from 10 am to Noon to raise funds for community improvements, including new trash barrels. Jane Fiumara of Summer House Gallery is coordinating and encourages everyone to contribute 2 or 3 baked items.