Sea Glass Festival Set For Ocean City This Weekend

Sea Glass Festival Set For Ocean City This Weekend
Sea Glass

OCEAN CITY – Sea glass collectors, artisans and enthusiasts will travel to Ocean City this weekend for the North American Sea Glass Association’s 10th Annual Sea Glass Festival.

The festival will be held Saturday, Aug. 29 and Sunday, Aug. 30, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center on 40th Street in Ocean City. Admission is $5 daily at the door, and the public is invited to attend.

Between 3,500 and 4,000 people are expected to attend the festival, which will feature nearly 60 sea glass collectors, artists and authors sharing their increasingly rare and distinctive gems from the sea. Sea glass artisans and authors will have much to offer, including stained glass, jewelry, books and photographs. A special Collectors’ Area will enable collectors to show their sea glass and interact with attendees.

In addition to the exhibits, on Saturday three sea glass experts will share their unique perspectives on collecting sea glass.

Bill Winkler, Sr., of the Delaware Marine Archaeological Society, will examine the “Historical Significance of Sea Glass and Treasures found along Delaware’s Coast” at 11 a.m. “Beyond Sea Glass: Identifying Sea Pottery” will be the focus of Patricia Samford, Director of the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab at the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum at 1 p.m. At 3 p.m., Christeena Hockin-Minopetros will share her experiences collecting sea glass in Greece for the past 15 summers in “Greece and Her Islands, A Sea Glass Lover’s Dream.”

Highlight of the festival will be the annual “Shard of the Year” contest on Sunday, which will offer a $1,000 grand prize to the winner of the Overall Beauty category. Prizes of $100 each will be awarded to winners in additional categories: runner-up to Shard of the Year, Pottery/Ceramics, Whimsical/Toys, Bottle Stopper, Most Unusual, Historical, Art Glass, Marbles, Buttons and Figural.

For more information, go to http://www.seaglassassociation.org.