Herring Run Festival Welcomes Spring with a Record Crowd
Plimoth Grist Mill hosted the annual Herring Run Festival in Brewster Gardens on Saturday, April 25. The popular event saw community-wide participation and provided hands-on learning experiences and fun for guests of all ages.
The dreary, morning clouds parted just in time for the Herring Run Festival, and the beautiful day brought the largest crowd ever for this beloved spring event.
Due to the Town Brook restoration work near the Plimoth Grist Mill, the festival took place in Brewster Gardens, which proved to be a great location to enjoy music from the Indigenous performance group Wetu Ways and the rockabilly band Shady Roosters.
Other activities included Mass Audubon’s raptor show, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary’s life-size inflatable whale Salt, Herring Pond Watershed Association’s herring run obstacle course and, of course, corn grinding at Plimoth Grist Mill. We’re also proud to have been joined by so many community partners this year such as the Plymouth Public Library, Sustainable Plymouth, and our event co-partner, Plymouth’s Natural Resources Department. Guests also enjoyed food and drink from two local food trucks and a beer garden by Independent Fermentations Brewery.
Thank you to all of the exhibitors, performers, and vendors who made the Herring Run go "swimmingly". They include:
- AEstesArt (Amy Estes Art)
- Citizens Climate Lobby
- Climate Action Net Zero Committee
- Department of Marine Fisheries
- Filling Station
- Herring Ponds Watershed Association
- Independent Fermentations
- Jones River Watershed Association
- Juniper and Pine Collective
- Koji on the Goji
- League of Women Voters
- Manomet
- Mass Audubon
- NOAA Stellwagen Bank
- Open Space Committee
- Plymouth Public Library
- Plymouth County 4-H and Extension
- Rescue Plymouth Wildlife
- Rex Neighborhood Baking
- Shady Roosters
- Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance
- Sustainable Plymouth
- Town of Plymouth Dept. of Energy & Environment - Wildlife Trailer
- Wilde Flour
- Wildlands Trust
- Wildlife Warriors
We are grateful for all the hard work from the Plimoth Patuxet staff that went into organizing this large, community-centered event. Thank you especially to Miller Matt Tate, Assistant Guest Experience Manager Beth Frasso, and the entire Plimoth Grist Mill team for their outstanding work.
Herring Run Festival has become a community tradition for welcoming spring and the herring, and we look forward to next year’s event which will highlight the outcome of the construction work around the mill and twenty years of Town Brook restoration efforts.
The Festival is funded in part by the Town of Plymouth Promotions Fund
