... like in Plymouth the day before.
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| See you next storm! |
Showing posts with label marshfield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marshfield. Show all posts
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Hermine Surf Check: Plymouth, Duxbury and Marshfield
... like in Plymouth the day before.
Friday, August 19, 2016
The Marshfield Fair, And Carnivals In General
MARSHFIELD FAIR
August 19 - 28, 2016
Open Noon - 10 pm daily
It's time for the Marshfield Fair!
The jewel of Marsh Vegas is the 149th running of the legendary agricultural fair. The first one went down 2 years after the US Civil War ended, and nothing could stop it since.
It serves up an awesome combo platter of rides, fried food, games, animals, freak shows, demolition derbies, music, wrestling... you're not going to be bored at the Marshfield Fair.
The only way that you can be more Americana than the Marshfield Fair is if you travel back in time and get a thang goin' on with George Washington and/or Betsy Ross. Carnivals and agricultural fairs have been around in some form since before America was America. I wouldn't be surprised to know that a 5 year old Thomas Jefferson was running around happy/wild at some sort of travelling fair.
"Carnival" is a term that basically means "merrymaking before Lent." The modern travelling carnival has strayed from her religious base to be more of a seasonal thing. The Marshfield Fair, while definitely holding 100% legit agricultural fair status, is in the Travelling Carnival subgroup.
The modern carnival has many parents. The travelling circus is a direct ancestor, but Vaudeville, burlesque, and gypsies also get into the mix. The 1893 Chicago World's Fair was very influential, They had a whole section of the grounds devoted to rides, games of chance, freak shows, Wild West shows and even the first Ferris Wheel.
The public ate it up, and people began to develop similar events that could be taken on the road. There were 17 travelling fairs (I think Marshfield is included in this number) in the US during 1902, and there were 300 by 1937.
The difference between megaparks like Disneyland or Six Flags and a travelling carnival is that the carny rides are smaller, and can be broken down for quick transport. Disneyworld is rooted to the spot they're in, while I'm pretty sure that the same carny stuff that is in Marsh Vegas today was in Barnstable last month and will be in Topsfield by October or so. Many carnivals cover a lot of territory, being a spring/autumn event in the South before/after moving North in the summer months.
Marshfield has been running their Fair in August for as long as I can remember. This lengthy Fair history page that I have no intention of reading all the way through says that it was a September event before Marshfield became a seasonal resort area. This owes to the agricultural roots of the fair.
It is the big shin-dig every summer if you're a South Shore kid. July 3rd owns July, and the Marshfield Fair owns August. I'm sure that a parent from 1868 would sympathize with a time-travelling 2016 parent as their kids ran wild around the same fairgrounds. Some things never change.
It's a useful calibration tool for locals, and it gives Marshfield instant name recognition in the region. Someone from Weymouth or Brockton may never have been to Duxbury or Middleboro, and I managed to live 10 miles from Monponsett without ever having heard Monponsett mentioned until a realtor showed me a house there... but every kid on the South Shore has been to Marshfield, usually during mid-August.
It is a popular event. I have the numbers for 2006's Fair, and they come up at around 180,000 paying customers. The town profits from the influx of visitors, less in a hotel sense than in a gas/supper/smokes/passing-through sense. I know someone who makes about $5000 a year by letting people park on his lawn.
It's a people-watcher's paradise. You get a fine cross-section of the South Shore population base. Also be sure to check out the carnies.
Carnies are the people who work the fairs. They're a strange migrant horde who speak their own language. Much of it is from back when the carnivals were more of a gilded theft. The language is secretive, and it evolves enough that if you know the term, it's already out of date.
"Mark," which I first heard ascribed to wrestling fans, is from the carnival. If a game operator found a sucker ("rube"), he'd pat his back with a chalked hand, leaving a "mark" that other game operators could identify the man by.
Fairs are known for their rides, which are today's main attraction. Marshfield has all sorts of them. We'll try to get some pictures later, but the better ones are the Ferris Wheel, the Funhouse (Vegas usually has it more as a haunted house), the Tilt-a-Whirl, the Round-up, the Vomit Spewer, the Child Decapitator and a dozen other rides that i have no intention of getting on.
I took this girl Julie to the Marshfield Fair once, after dinner at the Ming Dynasty. I didn't hurl on the Sno-Bobs or whatever that ride is called, but I also did nothing more daring than slink through the petting zoo afterwards. I had to go back with her (and her sister Ashley) a few days later, so she could go on rides with someone who had courage. I did hurl at Rocky Point once, but we're not going there.
We do plan on doing a Game Of Chance article where we share tips on how to beat Carny Games, but we're running a bit behind. I still have to learn how to beat these games, I'm pretty much that Mark you read about. A marginally-bright Carny will outfox me 8 days a week.
Avoiding the rides gives me more time to focus on food. I rarely eat Fried Dough outside of Carnival context these days. I might rip a chunk off the kid's cotton candy if I can do so with stealth. I'm all in on caramel apples, funnel cake and vinegar fries. If someone's serving Fried Twinkies, I'm eating Fried Twinkies. I'm not opposed to a fried chicken stand attack, although I have never and will never eat a Corn Dog. Gotta draw the line somewhere.
The sad part, as you saw from my date with Julie, is that I try to go out to dinner before the Fair, so I don't go crazy and overeat.
Here are some events that will be running.at the Marshfield Fair this week:
Friday, August 19
1, 3, 5 pm - Ox Pulling
6-10 pm - Family Music Festival
7 pm - Demolition Derby
sponsored by Rockland Trust
The Marshfield Farmer Market is still on at the Town Hall Green. Friday 2-6
Saturday, August 20
1 - 8 pm -New England Country Music Day
2 pm - Truck Pulling
sponsored by Tiny & Sons
2 pm - Team Penning
7 pm - Truck Pulling
sponsored by Tiny & Sons
(For Truck Pulling information contact
Eric Burgess at 508-456-4316)
Sunday, August 21
1 - 9 pm - 20th Green Harbor Roots Festival
2 pm - Truck Pulling
2 pm - Team Penning
7 pm - Truck Pulling
sponsored by Tiny & Sons
(For Truck Pulling information contact
Eric Burgess at 508-456-4316)
Monday, August 22
5:30 pm - N.E. Indie Rock Competition (click here for application)
7 pm - Demolition Derby Figure 8
sponsored by Rockland Trust
Tuesday, August 23
Senior Day
sponsored by Sullivan Tire
2 pm - Music by Reminisce
5:30 pm - Masters of the Mini Motocross
7 pm - Music by Reminisce
Wednesday, August 24
4-H & Agricultural Awareness Day
12 pm - Motocross Time Trials
2, 4, 6 pm - Horse Pulling
5:30 pm - N.E. Indie Rock Competition (click here for application)
6 pm - Supercross Competition (Motocross)
Thursday, August 25
Children's Day
7 pm - Kristen Merlin
7 pm - Demolition Derby
sponsored by Rockland Trust
Friday, August 26
5:30 pm -N.E. Indie Rock Competition - Finals
7 pm - 7th Annual 4-H Benefit Auction
7 pm - Demolition Derby - Finals
sponsored by Rockland Trust
Saturday, August 27
12 - 8 pm -21st Annual North River Blues Festival
12 pm - Marshfield Fair Versatility on Horseback
7 pm - Demolition Derby Figure 8 Finals
sponsored by Rockland Trust
Sunday, August 28
12 - 6 pm - Antique Truck & Tractor Show
11:30 - 5 pm - Tractor Pull
12 - 8 pm -21st Annual North River Blues Festival
1, 2:30 pm - Pony Pull
6 pm - Lawn Mower Racing
FAIR
ADMISSION:
$10.00
Children 6 & Under
FREE
GATES OPEN:
Noon - 10 pm
Everyday
No Pets Allowed
Except Guide Dogs
Marshfield Fair
140 Main Street
Marshfield, MA
02050
(781) 834-6629
(781) 834-6620
FAX
(781) 834-6750
Friday, June 24, 2016
So Many Nature Shots, You May Turn Against Nature And Kick A Puppy
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| S'up? |
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| We're emptying our Photobucket onto this website in a blizzard of archives articles. Today, we're doing Nature. This is from the Cape Cod Canal. |
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| Plus-size lobster, courtesy of my friend Tornado up in Maine. |
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| A baby coyote, from Widow's Walk golf course in Scituate. |
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| Second pic in a row from my man Ghost, this is what I believe is a New London, NH snapping turtle. |
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| A bear paw print (next to the author's size 15 Reebok footprint), White Cliffs Country Club, Cedarville MA, courtesy of Hacksaw and his baby sidekick, Roo. |
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| A couple of ducks or something, Barnstable MA |
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| Buzzards Bay Bluejay |
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| 5 rescue cats I took in, Mom (#6) not included. I'm no cat lady, I was doing an Adopt A Pet column for a Cape Cod newspaper, and they had new homes quickly enough. They were all given political names when I had them... Republicat is off to the right, as she's supposed to be. On the left, from bottom to top, are Democat, Romneycat, Obamacat (facing left, of course) and Puffy Cat. Puffy Cat was very puffy, so no other name was going to work. My neighbor, who is conservative, took Obamacat (so named because he has a big O in his flank fur) and renamed it something. Puffy Cat went to my friend's girlfriend, and Democat went to some high school girl that the guy who used to sell me my weed knew. I kept Republicat and her Mom, and Republicat was then renamed Bay Bay Cat. |
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| Bruschi the Bulldog, who hails from Wareham. |
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| Grazing Fields Farm, Bournedale MA |
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| My good ol' Border Collie, the late Sloppy Dogg. |
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| Mid-flight seagull, somewhere on Cape Cod |
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| Powder Point, Duxbury MA |
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| Ten year old picture of a seal sunning himself on Duxbury Beach... just in case the shark stories make you think that the seals are new arrivals. |
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| The author and a Mako Shark he caught.... OK, the author and a Mako Shark that his more manly friend caught and brought into Green Harbor. I'd have slapped the shark once and let him go, personally. I think the shark was sold to a company in Japan, they got like $500 for him. |
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| I did almost catch these gooses, but they gave me the slip. One of the quirks of this website is that the proprietor prefers to say "gooses" rather than the less-cute "geese." |
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| If you shot them with a potato launcher, you'd have the makings of a pretty good meal here... |
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| "Snake in the grass, I see ya comin'..... from a mile away, I start gunnin'....." |
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| Having a Weymouth black cat cross your path on Halloween is about as bad luck as you can get... |
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| ...unless, of course, you end up having a black cat cross your path that same day while you are at the Lizzie Borden house. You people should appreciate the risks that I take to bring you this column. |
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| Once Thanksgiving passes, the turkeys get all cocky and strut around in your yard. |
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| A seagull fighting a nor'easter, Duxbury Beach MA |
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| Horsing around, Middleboro MA |
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| Plimoth Plantation |
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Examining Wave Attenuation Devices
We're talking Wave Attenuation Devices with Fred Dorr today.
Remember, I'm a sportswriter by trade. My entire expertise on the matter we're discussing today boils down to:
1) I grew up on a beach
2) The house was on a seawall
3) I therefore have a base knowledge of waves-crashing-off-walls
4) Even with no scientific/academic training, I have more experience watching waves hit walls than many people who are authorities on the matter.
It's all downhill from there. My science is awful. I taught Science one year, and the highlight there was when I let the kids handle liquid mercury. I had to throw out and then acquire new versions of 10 school desks.
I mention all this because I'm interviewing someone who works in a field that may spark some interest among coastal residents. This is why I am, from this point on, stealing text wholesale from his website.
Also, I conducted the interview via email. It saves me from taping phone calls like a divorcing couple, and it lets Mr. Dorr speak directly to you, in a sense.
This is also why I am not challenging any of his answers. I'm just showing you some new technology, and you can decide if it will work on Duxbury/Humarock/First Cliff/Horse Neck/Scusset Beach for yourselves.
What is a WAD?A WAD (Wave Attenuation Device) is a three sided, hollow, concrete pyramid with holes on all three sides and one on the flat top.
WADs do not come in any one size. They are designed according to the conditions at a shoreline site. If, as in the case of Scituate, "they " wanted to deploy WADs at Minot beach, Peggotty, and Humarock, then quite likely there would be three different designs and perhaps three different sizes.
The design and size depend on the conditions at the deployment site. These conditions include ocean bottom, tide heights, astronomical tide heights, storm surges, weather direction, wind speed, storm intensities/frequencies and other factors.
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| Scituate |
The Science of a WAD:
WADs do two things.
First they knock a high wave down to virtually smooth water.
The second thing they do is to remove energy from an ocean swell. They do this much the same way that the aerator on your sink faucet does. If you didn't have that aerator on the faucet the water would come out in a big blast. The aerator only allows the water in the pipe to get to your sink via very small holes. Therefore each of the water streams contains very little energy.
On the ocean side of a WAD array, the turbulent oceanic swells have picked up some sand and carry it in suspension through the WADs.
However, because the WADs reduce the energy of the wave, the sand falls out of suspension and settles on an eroded beach. If there is sand available in the near ocean, if we have a few nor'easter and if we had an array of WADs, we could over a short period of time (1-3 years) have a new dry high tide beach.
Seafood Farming?
In the background are fish havens they resemble WADs except they do not have a flat top or a hole in it.
They are mass produced in three sizes.
They are deployed in small arrays; circles, squares, triangles, etc. They attract fish and promote organic marine growth.
From what I have read they are very effective in increasing a fisherman's catch.
That's a short question that has a long answer.
1. Waves under cut the sandy edge (TOE) of a seawall
2. WADs knock down high/tall waves to calm water. When I asked Scott Bartkowski if WADs could knock down a 20 foot wave his reply was we have killed 29 foot waves.
3. If there is sand available in the near shore up to 300-500 feet then during storms that sand, with the help of WADs, will migrate to the eroded beach and replenish it.
4. When a beach gets fully replenished, the waves will not reach the seawall. If a wave cannot reach a seawall there can be no damage to shoreline structures.
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| Sandwich, MA |
Q) How do the WADs not get filled up with sand and stone? Would they be more, less or equally effective when filled or partially-filled with sand and stone?
In the course of doing their work the WADs do not get filled up instead they break the wave energy down into little pieces so to speak and the sand actually moves through the WADs. If one snap shot were taken of the entire process then you would say that the WADs were filled up with sand. Go to WADs Work 4 Beaches on face book and look at the video I have posted you will see what I mean.
When a beach is fully replenished then the municipality should get a barge and a crane go out into the sea and move the WADs farther out and make a larger beach.
What sort of impact-force testing did you do on the WADs, i.e. waves picking up Ottoman-sized boulders (see "Bert's, Plymouth") and throwing them off WADs?
1. When Living Shoreline Solutions does their scientific investigation, they look at what's on the ocean floor, ferocity of storms. storm surge, astronomical tide effect, beach slope and a myriad of other parameters. They design four applicable WADs for a specific beach that will do the job of attenuating "its" waves. If there are rocks on the ocean floor then the thickness of the wall of the hollow WAD is increased. Understand that the concrete used is marine grade and reinforced with fiberglass shreds. As regards to the event at Bert's I guess my only answer to that is Poo happens.
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| Ocean Bluff/Brant Rock |
There is no need for keep the fish out of the WADs. The WADS are hollow. Fish can swim in and out of WADs. In the gulf coast LSS makes a series of Fish Havens for commercial fishermen. They have reported significant increase in their harvest due to the effectiveness of WADS. WADs are also used to promote oyster growth.
Do you put these WADs where conventional seawalls stand in relation to the high tides, or do they go offshore some?
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| Duxbury Beach |
Is it possible to perform patchwork repairs on WADs somehow?
I am not sure I know what you mean by patchwork repairs. If you mean to repair a WAD that has been damaged. I do not know the answer because there have not been any cases of WAD failure in seventeen years. Caution must be used because the primary market for WADs is in the south and the Caribbean, where there are no rocks. If you mean can short (25-100 feet) arrays of WADs be put in place. The answer is yes but the overall project must contain several arrays because of a cost/profit problem.
This might be silliest question you've ever been asked in this field, but could a town order WADs in different colors if they so desired?
No it is not the silliest but it comes close. There have been WADs built with rocks imbedded on the top to simulate a nearby breakwater. I suppose if someone wanted a puse colored WAD array that could be done--at a price of course.
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| Green Harbor |
WADs have three purposes--Attenuate waves, replenish beaches, and provide marine habitat. I guess that means that if barnacles are going to grow on a WAD the people will have to deal with it.
Do WADs work if the water level gets higher than them?
Extraordinary question. A swell is essentially rotating water much like a basket ball rolling across a gym floor. If the bottom of a swell collides with the ocean bottom the swell turns into a breaker. When a wave breaks it begins to lose its kinetic energy. Wave height is measured from the bottom of the trough to the top of the swell
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| Kingston |
In the process of losing its energy any sand that was in suspension will be deposited on the beach. That is like trying to stir a glass of iced tea with five teaspoons of sugar in it. As long as the tea is being stirred the sugar will stay in suspension. But, when the stirring is stopped the excess sugar will settle to the bottom of the glass. That is how a beach is replenished.
What sort of aquaculture can someone perform with a WAD?
I know that oysters grow very well on WADs, I have seen pictures of fish in and around WADs. In fact two hours after a WAD array was deployed at Negril Jamaica on a barren ocean bottom there were fish "sniffing" around looking for a good place to stay for the night! I suspect that WADs would make a good hidey place for lobsters
How large of a wave would be required to move a WAD?
The actual answer is no body knows. In the seventeen years that WADs have been deployed all over the world not one has ever been moved from the place it was deployed. That is because of its design. Hollow: water goes through a WAD. A WAD has slanted sides. A WAD is a three sided pyramid. So the water goes up, and through WAD, and can't push it around.
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| Nantasket Beach |
All WADs are site specific. For instance in Scituate, my town. If the town were to WAD North Scituate Beach, Peggotty and Humarock there would likely be three different designs. So far WADs have been as short as four feet and as tall as 12 feet. They have weighed as little as 450 lbs to as much as 21,000 lbs. I asked Ping Wang PHD University of South Florida who has done some Attenuation testing for Living Shorelines, the following question, "Could a WAD be designed to replenish a beach and at the same time prevent any shoreline damage regardless of the height of the waves. His very short answer was "YES".
Is one mile of conventional Massachusetts seawall more or less expensive than the same distance of WADs?
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| Brant Rock/Ocean Bluff |
Another fabulous question. Scituate is or will be building a seawall 700 feet long. It is expected to cost about $4,000,000 That works out to about $5700 per linear foot. I have to stop for a moment here. A seawall is necessary to keep calm high water from flooding the local area. The concerns of sea level rise can be accommodated with a seawall. But an array of WADS attenuate the waves. On the ocean side there might be 12 foot waves. On the shore side of the WAD deployment the waves might be 6 inches high The current cost of a double row deployment of WADs is approximately $1,000 per linear foot. I think that equates to an 80% saving.
Is it possible to buy WADs for personal use like forming a semi-circle in front of your house?
s soon as you said the word "possible" the answer is yes. BUT you would have to ship them from Florida. You would not have a choice in shape, because they do not manufacture them in a factory and then ship them from a stock pile. Living Shoreline Solutions designs a site specific WAD, fabricates the concrete molds in Florida then ships the forms to the site. Once here local labor assembles the forms and a local concrete company provides the concrete. Then someone either has to hire a barge with a crane or a very big front end loader to deploy the finished product.. In addition the state owns the water, you would have to get their permission. From what I understand that takes at least a year.
I have enclosed two files, which are pictures that I plan to use in the article. One picture is of a seawall in Duxbury, which is what I have in mind when I say "conventional Massachusetts seawall." The other is of the White Cliffs Country Club in the Cedarville section of Plymouth. What could WADs do to stop erosion of those sand cliffs?
I have not yet seen your pix but I know that when it comes to cliff erosion, although WADS have not been used in that particular situation. I have to add here that no WADs have ever been deployed in the waters of Massachusetts. I have about 20 years left on this good earth and I intend to use every one of them to get WADs into Massachusetts waters.
Back to your query. Put WADS in the water the scientifically prescribed distance from the toe of the cliff and if there is sand in the near shore then that sand will be transported to the space between the WADs and the toe of the cliff over some reasonable short period of time. Perhaps 1-3 years. In that time the beach level will rise above the height of the WADs and the waves will not reach the toe of the cliff. If the waves cannot reach the shoreline there can be no further erosion except by the rain.
Again go to WADs Work 4 Beaches in face book look at the five videos for proof that they work.
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