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Celebrate World Ocean Day June 12th at East Beach

Check out the line up for Ocean Day HERE.

World Ocean Day is the UN-recognized day of ocean celebration and action.

For the first time this year, the name of the event has transitioned from World Oceans Day to World Ocean Day (no “s”) to reflect the connection between all oceans.

All around the globe individuals and groups use the day to celebrate, learn about, and do their part to help the ocean.

Local, regional, and state organizations will come together to provide engaging activities to help visitors understand the human connection to the ocean.

Bring your friends and family and join us in celebrating the ocean right on its doorstep!

The Artist Boat World Ocean Day Festival is held at Stewart Beach, Galveston’s premier family beach park, where Broadway intersects Seawall Blvd, Saturday, June 12th, from 11 am – 4:30 pm. The address is 201 Seawall Blvd. To learn more about the venue click here.

The Festival is FREE, however, Stewart Beach parking fees will apply. ($15/Car All Day).

The Galveston Trolley also has a stop at Stewart Beach. For information on Trolley stops, times and prices click here.

To register for a booth, click either Vendor Registration or Partner Registration

Marine Debris Art Contest

As part of the World Ocean Day Festival, there will be a Marine Debris Art Contest!

Artists and ocean-lovers of all ages can submit pieces to display at the festival. Art pieces are comprised primarily of marine debris and demonstrate the effects aquatic trash can have on our oceans and the life that depends on them.

During the festival, judges will view all submissions! Visitors can cast their vote for their favorite piece to help determine the People’s Choice Award! 

View the entries on the 2nd floor of the Stewart Beach Park Pavilion.

Beautify the Bucket Art Competition

Help Artist Boat beautifies the trash receptacles along Galveston beaches to enhance the views of the beach and catch the eye of visitors.

Beautiful and clever artwork helps to increase the proper use of the trash receptacles through the Beautify the Bucket Art Competition. Together we can all help to reduce marine debris!

The display occurs on June 12th, at Stewart Beach during the World Oceans Day Festival in Galveston, TX. Winners are announced at 12:00 pm.

The Line Up for the Day

Interactive Entertainment by Young Audiences of Houston
We are excited to have some amazing performances for this year’s World Ocean Day festival. Each segment is focused on the practice and importance of conservation and education! Check them out below:
The Aquarium: A Marine Micro Ballet
Susan McDonald
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
4:00 pm – 4:45 pm
Guitarist/composer/poet Susan McDonald combines science and music to showcase creatures of the marine aquarium. Through video and music, Susan uses humor to bring to life terms such as symbiosis, proboscis, camouflage, and aposematic. Join Susan on this delightful, aquatic adventure.
Yasuni: Dances in the Rainforest
Susan McDonald
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm
3:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Inspired by her travel through the Ecuadorian rainforest, the world’s most bio-diverse region, guitarist/composer Susan McDonald brings you her latest program Yasuni: Dances from the Rainforest. Part of her Animal Ballet series, audiences will be treated to a multi-sensory combination of live video and folk rhythms with themes taken from the sounds, and sights, of birds, insects and amphibians. The music ranges from ethereal to boisterous and takes the listener into a rare and fragile world whose mysteries are hidden from modern civilization.
Sharing the Secrets of Puppetry
Puppet Pizzazz
11:00 am – 11:45 am 
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm
Professional puppeteer Greg Ruhe enthusiastically shares the ancient art of puppetry by demonstrating a variety of styles of puppets in a highly theatrical performance. Mr. Greg shares the secrets of making and manipulating many of his unique characters. It is guaranteed that the audience will walk away filled with an appreciation and enthusiasm for the art of puppetry. The audience will learn how to turn trash into treasure as Mr. Greg shares ideas on making puppets from recycled materials. This Puppet Extravaganza includes storytelling along with hand puppets, shadow puppets, recycled material puppets, and marionettes. Puppet Pizzazz is best known for its giant puppet creations. The show is not over until an eight-foot-tall surprise character takes center stage.

About World Ocean Days

On World Ocean Day, people around our blue planet celebrate and honor the ocean, which connects us all. Get together with your family, friends, community, and the planet to start creating a better future. Working together, we can and will protect our shared ocean. Join this growing global celebration on June 8th.

A healthy world ocean is critical to our survival. Every year, World Ocean Day provides a unique opportunity to honor, help protect, and conserve our world’s shared ocean. The ocean is important because it:

  • Generates most of the oxygen we breathe
  • Helps feed us
  • Regulates our climate
  • Cleans the water we drink
  • Offers a pharmacopoeia of medicines
  • Provides limitless inspiration!

Participate in a World Ocean Day event or activity this year and help protect the ocean for the future. It’s up to each one of us to help ensure that our ocean is healthy for future generations. World Ocean Day allows us to:

Change perspective – encourage individuals to think about what the ocean means to them and what it has to offer all of us with hopes of conserving it for present and future generations.

Learn – discover the wealth of diverse and beautiful ocean creatures and habitats, how our daily actions affect them, and how we are all interconnected.

Change our ways – we are all linked to, and through, the ocean! By taking care of your backyard and helping in your community, you are acting as a caretaker of our ocean. Making small modifications to your everyday habits will make a difference, and involving your family, friends, and community will benefit our blue planet even more.

Celebrate – whether you live inland or on the coast, we are all connected to the ocean. Take the time to think about how the ocean affects you, and how you affect the ocean, and then organize or participate in activities that celebrate our ocean.

2021 Conservation Action Focus: Protecting 30% of our blue planet for a healthy ocean and climate.

No matter if we live on the coast or far inland, we all need a healthy ocean to survive and thrive. The ocean generates most of the oxygen we breathe, helps feed us, cleans the water we drink, and regulates our climate.

By protecting our ocean, we also protect our climate and our future.

World leaders will soon be making critical decisions, including whether to protect 30% of lands, waters, and ocean by 2030, also known as “30×30.” To help these efforts succeed, there will need to be a strong show of support, and you can help!

Click Sign the Petition to participate virtually by signing the petition for the 30 x 30 initiative.

About Artist Boat

Artist Boat is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to promoting awareness and preservation of the coastal margins and marine environment through the disciplines of the sciences and the arts. Artist Boat’s Coastal Heritage Preserve currently encompasses a 690 acre conservation area on West Galveston Island. Artist Boat’s goal is to preserve and restore 1,400 contiguous acres from beach to bay. The conservation area is one of the largest unfragmented, single-owner, undeveloped properties of its kind on Galveston Island.





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