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Good morning from the shoreline.

We skipped last week’s send for a quiet staycation, hope you got to enjoy that fabulous weather and some family time. Thanks to everyone who’s been emailing; the feedback and encouragement mean more than you know. Keep it coming, if there’s a spot you love or an event I should be surfacing, just hit reply. I read every one.

School’s out, the boats are back on the river, and downtown Mystic is about to belong to the tourists for a couple of months , try to make the most of these weekends while you still can.

Here’s what I’ve surfaced this week.

PRESENTED BY: Garden Girl Suzie

Meet Suzie Fitzgerald — fine gardener serving Mystic and the surrounding towns and our first Crew Expert. Scroll down to meet her properly and send her your toughest gardening question.

Get in touch: [email protected] · (860) 908-7689

Friday–Sunday, June 26–28 · from 9am · Mystic Seaport Museum · Mystic

More than 100 traditional and classic wooden boats — handcrafted, restored, and sailed — fill the Seaport this weekend for the WoodenBoat Show, run in partnership with WoodenBoat Publications. If you’ve ever stood on the riverbank and wondered how these things get built, this is the weekend the people who build them are happy to tell you. Maritime-history buffs and gunkholers alike: this is your Saturday. Details →

Saturday, June 27 · 8pm · Garde Arts Center, 325 State Street · New London

Fifteen of the finest jazz players working today, led by Wynton Marsalis, on the Garde stage downtown. This is part of the lead-up to Marsalis’s final season as the orchestra’s music director — the kind of touring act that usually skips a town our size. Details →

Saturday, June 27 · 2–6pm · behind the Mystic Museum of Art · Mystic

The Greater Mystic Chamber’s Pride event, Love Out Loud 2026, takes over the green behind the Mystic Museum of Art Saturday afternoon. Check the details to see the full lineup of events. Details →

Saturday, June 27 · 11am–4pm · North Stonington Historical Society, 1 Wyassup Road · North Stonington

The North Stonington Historical Society marks the nation’s 250th with a parade, a muster, and a colonial fair: weaving and spinning demonstrations, antique muskets, working models of the old mills, and reproduction historic clothing you can actually try on. The 1781 Homestead gardens and dye house will be open. Details →

Some events listed are submitted by organizers or sponsors. We only feature things we’d genuinely recommend.

Our Crew Expert is back. Suzie Fitzgerald — Garden Girl Suzie — is a fine gardener working in Mystic and the surrounding towns: no chemicals, just an eye for what actually grows in our coastal soil.

Steph asks: “I don’t want to waste my time trying to grow the wrong perennials. What’s one thing that grows better in SE CT than people expect and one thing that struggles here that I should stay away from?”

Suzie: Hi Steph - Hydrangeas are fantastic for this area. The trick is picking the right ones for the amount of sun you have. For full sun - try panicles or tardivas - they’re very easy, just prune back hard each spring and they’ll be beautiful all summer long. For areas with partial shade try mop heads or lacecaps! If you plant these in full sun they tend to burn. For plants that don’t grow well here I have a bit of a controversial take - boxwoods. They’re extremely disease prone and once one has blight, all of the others in your yard are at risk. If you like the look of them but don’t want the hassle try inkberry hollies (taller) or hoogendorn hollies (shorter). They’re almost impossible to tell the difference and much less disease prone.

Got a gardening question for Suzie? Reply to this email and we’ll feature as many as we can. Ready to work with Suzie? She’s at [email protected] · (860) 908-7689.

Opening a restaurant? Launching a new menu? Reply to this email and let us share it with the community!

Thursday, June 25 · 5pm · Flanders Fish + 374 Kitchen + Cocktails · East Lyme

Tonight, Flanders Fish and 374 run a menu of dishes inspired by the late Anthony Bourdain, with raffle prizes and a percentage of every order — dine-in and takeout — going to the Brian Dagle Foundation. Eat well, give back, raise a glass to a guy who taught a generation how to travel hungry. Details →

Sunday, June 28 · evening · Captain Daniel Packer Inne · Mystic

A prix-fixe dinner inside one of the oldest buildings in Mystic, paired with an evening of local legends and haunted history — a fundraiser, and exactly the kind of only-here night out the Packer Inne does well. [confirm seating time + ticket price before send] Details →

Some food and drink picks come from organizers or sponsors. We only feature things we’d genuinely recommend.

Want to share a Featured Event ? Reach out and let’s talk.

The shoreline’s free outdoor concert season is fully underway — three of this week’s four picks won’t cost you a dime.

Visit wailingcity.com for complete live music list and venue updates

That’s your week.

Which one are you actually making it to — the WoodenBoat Show, Wynton at the Garde, or Pride in Mystic? Hit reply and tell me.

Talk Thursday.