Sailfest celebrates 45 years of food, music and attractions

New London – After some early morning weather concerns, the 45th iteration of the popular Sailfest eventually hit its stride Saturday with thousands of guests roaming New London’s downtown and waterfront areas.

For several hours after the festival’s 10 a.m. kickoff, storms peppered the vendor-packed streets with rain. But by 2 p.m. the skies had largely cleared and peeks of sunshine gave guests a dry afternoon to shop, eat and take in the sights.

Kristea Francolino, one of the employees working a New London Eats tent at the corner of Bank and State streets early Saturday afternoon, was confident the foot traffic would pick up as the day went on.

“It’s the most exciting event of the year here in New London, and people will come out,” she said in front of a table filled with loaded baked potatoes, nachos and mac and cheese.

In both directions from her stand, workers in tents and trucks hawked a variety of offerings from hot dogs and fried dough to grilled chicken kabobs and rum cakes. Vendors selling jewelry, clothing and gutter protectors shared sidewalks with henna tattooists and barbers giving open-air haircuts.

The brick-and-mortar downtown shops, with the built-in advantage of being dry no matter the weather outside, were doing a brisk business selling coffee, pastries and beer.

At the Hygenic Art gallery canopy, young performers hit the stage as an appreciative crowd applauded. More music spilled out from a Parade Plaza stage generated by a rotating roster of singers alternately belting out jazz, Latin and reggae tunes.

By 4:30 p.m., streams of motorists continued entering the city searching for parking spaces, a challenge with the Water Street garage already at capacity. The crowds included knots of local, state and Amtrak police officers, as well as event security.

Saying goodbye to a city cobbler

The two-day event served as a sort of coda for one longtime downtown business. Outside the Bank Street Cobbler at 193 Bank St., notices announcing its imminent closing were mirrored by sale signs inside the leather-scented shop.

Owner Christos Amoutsoglou, 78, said he plans to close his store for good in the next couple of weeks after 48 years of repairing and selling footwear to customers.

“I plan to make a life,” Amoutsoglou said, when asked why he was retiring. “Everything’s for sale except the walls. Leather, shoes, boots – the whole shebang.”

Amoutsoglou, who learned his craft as a teen near his native Athens, moved to the United States in 1970 at age 23. He soon settled in New London, working as a cook before opening his Bank Street shop a decade later.

“I’ll miss the good people, and I’ve seen it all: the good, the bad and the ugly,” he said. “I’ve had part-time workers, young people, kids of friends, that are now doctors at Yale, dentists in New York and lawyers.”

Floating bridges and a tattoo

Down at the city’s waterfront, the replica schooner Amistad accepted tour groups on board not far from where members of the Connecticut National Guard’s 250th Engineer Company, based in New London, showed off a five-piece floating ribbon bridge hardy enough to support tanks crossing over its segmented deck.

Under a cloudy sky, Thomas Gonzales and his wife, Katherine Chapman, sipped frozen lemonade after an early lunch of walking tacos. It was the first Sailfest for the Groton couple, who left the event with a painted flower print and a slightly more permanent memento for Chapman.

“I got a tattoo on my leg of an animal skull with flowers coming out of it,” Chapman said, not far from a line of carnival games and rides. “It reminds me that tough times happen, but there’s a little bit of light, too.”

The pair ― not fans of large crowds ― said they didn’t plan to stick around for the evening fireworks, but planned to be back next year.

“For sure, we’ll be here,” Gonzales said.

Sailfest will continue from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

j.penney@theday.com