Alewife Festival Winners

May 14th, 2022 - Exeter’s (new) Alewife Festival was held last Saturday at Founder’s Park, the river-side park between Great and String Bridges. The environmental festival honored the arrival of alewives which must swim upstream to freshwater from the ocean to lay their eggs.  The winner of the kayak in the Guess the Alewife Run Date contest was Gwen English. NH Fish and Game reported that the fish had arrived, May 13th - the day before the festival. The winner of the alewife mascot contest was Renay Allen, with her 5-foot “Queen of the Alewives”. She walked the sidewalk parade route while blowing bubbles and waving. (Both of these contests will be held next year as well, so start planning ahead!) But the real winners on the day were the fish themselves, no longer impeded by a dam. They arrived by the hundreds that morning. Spotted feasting that day were also; various gulls, cormorants, a beaver, osprey and a falcon. Last year, Exeter’s two resident bald eagles were seen stealing fish from the gulls.