In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the drive to protect the coasts seems more important now than ever to the attendees of Coast Day, making this year’s event all the more relevant.
Coast Day is the annual flagship event held by the university’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment that showcases how the university community is working to understand marine and coastal ecosystems. The event serves to raise awareness and support for the coast, while also uplifting the minds working to protect it.
Featuring everything from live sharks to dolphin bones, thousands flooded the university’s Lewes campus on Oct. 6 to catch a glimpse of all the event had to offer.
Attendees had the opportunity to hear lectures from scientists, tour university labs, learn about local coastal organizations, shop at vendors and eat at food trucks all while live music fluttered through the air.
“Coast Day is a love and celebration of our oceans, our beaches and our waves,” Shannon Lyons, east coast regional director for the Surfrider Foundation, said.
Lyons, a university alumna, spent her afternoon at the event manning the booth for the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit that focuses on keeping beaches clean, accessible and healthy.
Her organization attended the event to spread awareness about its mission, recruit new members and hopefully get enough traction to start a Surfrider chapter at the university.
“We deal with a lot of local issues here that are of great importance,” Lyons said. “Having so many people come and be excited and energized about the ocean is a great opportunity to educate the public.”
If attendees were curious about what it takes to be a weatherman, Kevin Brinson, assistant research professor of geography and spatial sciences, and his team from the Center for Environmental Monitoring and Analysis were happy to show them.
Their booth featured a collection of weather equipment that monitored live changes in atmospheric conditions and demonstrated how meteorologists stay on top of their work.
Brinson explained that the center is trying something new this year as attendees had the chance to take in-person tours of the Delaware Environmental Observing System (DEOS) Weather Station, where Brinson is the director. To Brinson, the personability and face-to-face interactions at Coast Day make the event a great opportunity for scientists and researchers to “meet people where they are at.”
“What I love about this event is that we’re out here trying to explain what we do in ways that hopefully the general public can understand,” Brinson said. “As a Sea Grant college, we should be trying to get our information out there to let people know what we’re doing and hopefully build support from our community.”
On the less scientific side, the painted seashells and sea glass jewelry featured at SeaGals Gallery of Delaware, a vendor at the event, grabbed the attention of visitors.
Sue Lemmons, a co-owner of the family-owned business, explained how SeaGals has been a long-time attendee at the event and she feels participating in Coast Day is “the right thing to do.”
“I think people need to understand that protecting what we have is important for the future of everyone,” Lemmons said. “Everybody needs to be involved, it’s everybody’s job to take care of it.”
Native to Delaware, Lemmons shared how she feels a personal connection to the event as it focuses on protecting Delaware seashores, which keeps her coming back year after year.
To Lemmons, Coast Day is more than just an event. It’s a chance to see the community’s common interest in respecting our coastal ecosystems.
“You can look around and see, there are so many people here, and there are a lot of other places they could be today, but they chose to come here,” Lemmons said. “That’s what makes this event so important, everyone here realizes the value of it and wants to support it.”