NEWBURYPORT — Kids can jump in a pirate bouncy castle before taking a ride on a wooden elephant at the Custom House Maritime Museum all summer when the Water Street gallery presents its weekly Revolutionary Summer Saturdays.
Building on the success of its Road to Revolution parade and exhibition opening which saw Gov. Maura Healey marching through the downtown last month, each Saturday from now until September, the museum will feature all-ages outdoor and indoor programming, including a pirate boat, water tables as well as scavenger hunts.
The free program will run each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will also include a rideable wooden dolphin and elephant courtesy of local sculptor Jeff Briggs along with a bouncy castle, prizes, costumes, games, arts and crafts and more.
Kids of all ages will also be able to steer a boat into port with a wheel from a real pirate ship in the museum’s new Discovery Center where they can dress up as a sailor in a kid-sized Custom House, as well as guide ships home with a working lighthouse.
Community partners such as Lowell’s Boat Shop and Rolling River Printmakers of New England are also scheduled to join the program as it moves forward.
In September, the museum will also host a mishoon (dugout canoe) carving. Led by Imagine Studios, Darius Coombs of the Mashpee Wampanoag and Jonathan Petty of the Aquinnah Wampanoag will carve out the mishoon over successive weekends. Sponsored by the New England Foundation for the Arts, these events will be open to the public. The goal is to finish the carving in time for Indigenous Peoples Day and launch the mishoon on the Merrimack River on Oct. 11.
“Last year’s summer events were a huge success with hundreds of kids having fun on the Custom House lawn right on the historic Merrimack River,” Julia Bradley, collections/programs manager at the CHMM, said. “We’re so excited to keep this tradition going, this time all summer long. This year, you can look forward to more activities, more games, and most importantly, more fun!”