International Sea Glass Association Festival

2023 Sea Glass Festival

The International Sea Glass Association is pleased to announce its return to New England by hosting the 17th Annual Festival on the Village Green of the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. The Festival will take place on Saturday and Sunday, July 29–30, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The International Sea Glass Festival is the premier sea and beach glass event in the country celebrating the history and beauty of genuine sea and beach glass.

A summer visit to the nation’s number one maritime museum, talented artists and craftspeople, knowledgeable speakers, the sea glass contest, and an opportunity to connect with fellow sea glass enthusiasts will make for an unforgettable weekend. Admission to the Museum covers admission to the Festival, and a one-day ticket can be validated to enter a second day to enjoy the Museum and the Festival to its fullest.

We are looking for Collectors!

Celebrate the 17th Annual International Sea Glass Association’s festival at Mystic Seaport Museum by showing your sea glass collection in our Collectors Showcase! Be part of the festival, make new friends, and show off your prized finds.

We are looking for sea and beach glass collectors who would like to have a table in the marquee tent on Saturday and Sunday, July 29–30, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The mission of ISGA is to educate people about the properties and benefits of genuine, pure, natural, unaltered sea and beach glass. All collectors must display only real sea and beach glass and help festivalgoers understand the history and value of real sea and beach glass.

We provide the table and chairs in the tent, and collectors provide table coverings and items/display.
Collectors receive one (1) wristband for admission to the Mystic Seaport Museum grounds on Saturday and Sunday.
Collector’s name and email or website will be in the festival program and on the Sea Glass Festival web page.
The Collectors Showcase is a “no-sell” zone. Collectors can not sell pieces during the festival.
Collectors’ displays must have beachcombed finds only — no finished art works or jewelry are allowed at the collector tables.
There is no compensation for being a collector/participant.
Collectors commit to exhibiting their collections from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days.

There is limited space available for collectors. Please contact Festival Director Roxann Williams at festival@seaglassassociation.org if you have any questions.

Please complete the Collectors Showcase Application by April 30.

Vendors

Congratulations to the artists selected to participate in this year’s event! Acceptance letters were emailed on March 17th, so please check your email box for yours.

Although the regular application period has closed, we are accepting applications for our waiting list. We invite ISGA Professional Members to apply in case space opens up: 2023 Sea Glass Festival Application.

Volunteers

Thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help out at this year’s festival! We currently have enough volunteers and have a waiting list. We will contact you with details in July with arrival details. Thank you!

Lectures • Exhibitors • Jewelry • Décor • Art • Sea Glass Contest

2023 Festival Schedule – Tentative

Join us for a weekend of sea and beach glass! All times are tentative. Professional and Community Members will be emailed with details about the festival weekend meetups and events.

Friday, July 28, 2023

Beach trip for ISGA Professional and Community Members. Details coming soon.

Saturday, July 29, 2023

10 am Festival Opens
11:30 am Presentation: Zen Sea Glassing with Guy Fleming
2 pm Presentation: A History of Maritime Mystic with Rich Froh
3:30 pm Lucky Draw Raffle
5 pm Festival Closes for the day

Reception and meeting for ISGA Professional and Community Members. Details coming soon.

Sunday, July 30, 2023

10 am Festival Opens
11 am Presentation: Sailing for Sea Glass with Ky Davis
1 pm Sea Glass Contest Entries Close
1 pm Lucky Draw Raffle
2 pm Presentation
3 pm Sea Glass Contest Awards
5 pm Festival Closes. See you next year!

Presentations

Join us for a educational presentations about sea and beach glass, local coastal information, and more. These presentations will take place in the historic 1850s Meeting House, part of Mystic Seaport Museum’s seaport village. This bustling village was recreated with trade shops, businesses, and buildings that were transported to the museum grounds. Full schedule TBD.

Nominate a speaker ›

Zen Sea Glassing

Saturday, July 29, 2023, 11:30 am

Guy Fleming

In a lifetime, change may occur quickly and sometimes very unexpectedly. After Guy lost all his worldly possessions in the severe Superstorm Sandy of 2012, he faced another tragedy when he divorced shortly afterward. Searching for solace and new beginning in life, he began walking beach, discovering sea glass and an improved quality of life. Guy will share personal stories, Zen techniques and important ways to become an environmental steward.

Guy Cash Fleming has been expressing himself creatively ever since he sat down with a bass guitar as a teenager. He spent 34 years working as a chemical operator and instrumentation technician for a major pharmaceutical company, and he is also a musician, photographer, and amateur sea glass jeweler. Although he thought he’d never write a book, six months into retirement he suddenly had the urge and honored it wholeheartedly, with the release of For the Love of Sea Glass. Since then he’s walked more than 10,000 miles on the beaches of New Jersey, found in excess of 200,000 pieces of sea glass, and wrote two additional books, entitled Sea Glass for Miles, (a sea glass color/rarity guide), and Sea Glass Stories from the Beautiful New Jersey Coast, a coffee table book. Guy lives in New Jersey with his wife Yolanda, also an author, and their two young adult children.

Sailing for Sea Glass

Sunday, July 23, 2023, 11:00 am

Ky Davis

Captain Ky Davis lives on a Ta Yang (Tayana) 50′ Flying Dutchman sailboat and travels the Caribbean in search of rare sea glass. Ky will share some of his experiences hunting for sea glass on beaches, in underwater caves, and down cliff sides, where he finds beautiful, rare sea glass and more. You’ll get a peek at his life living on his sailboat as he travels the seas to find untouched sea glass beaches.

Captain Ky the Sea Glass Guy from LC’s Glass is a treasure hunter circumnavigating the world on his sailboat, The Emerald of Pleiades, with his Yorkshire Terrier, LC, in search of the world’s greatest unknown sea glass beaches. He has spent time as a firefighter, combat medic, explorer, adventurer, survivalist, farmer, and ship captain. Find Ky on Instagram @suns_out_tonguesout, on Facebook at @SunsOutTonguesOut, and on YouTube at The Bored Pirate.

A History of Maritime Mystic

Saturday, July 29, 2023, 2:00 p.m.

Rich Froh

Mystic has long been a major hub of the seafaring world, playing host to shipbuilding, fishing, global trade, naval warfare, and everything in between. Come learn about our rich local history, and discover what makes Mystic such a special place.

Richard (Rich) Froh has spent his life exploring local waters and waterfronts and feeding his hunger for history, especially local and maritime histories. With his wife, June, Rich has traveled to many historic sites in the U.S. and Europe, but his appreciation for the history of the Mystic River area and Mystic’s connection to national and world events remains the center of his focus and passion. His full-time job at the Museum allows him to, as he puts it, “de-mystify Mystic” by helping history buffs and those less familiar with our past, appreciate what has happened on these grounds and the surrounding waters.

Tickets

General Admission Tickets to Mystic Seaport Museum cover admission to the Festival for two days. Your one-day ticket can be validated for a second day. Your ticket gives you admission to both days of the festival, lectures, and the Sea Glass Contest. You can also visit the Mystic Seaport Museum grounds, including world-class exhibits such as Voyaging in the Wake of the Whalers, Figureheads, Sea as Muse, and much more. Other attractions at Mystic Seaport include free planetarium shows, the Children’s Museum, the Homeport Family Activity Center, and access to the Charles W. Morgan — the world’s last authentic wooden whaling ship. You can purchase tickets on the day of the festival at the Museum or purchase General Admission tickets online. Adult $28 | Senior 65+ $26 | Youth 13-17 $24 | Child 4-12 $19 | 0-3 free.

FREE parking is available in the lots across the street at the North Entrance.

Sea Glass Contest

Think you found the best marble, bottle stopper, whimsical toy, frosted bottle, historical, or other amazing beach treasure this year? Be sure to bring your stash of finds and enter to win cash prizes during the 17th Annual Sea Glass Contest. The International Sea Glass Association invites collectors to enter their favorite sea and beach glass finds in the Sea Glass Contest.

Guidelines:

Entry cards will be sold at the show on Saturday and Sunday.
3 entries per card: $5 per card
Indicate the body of water where the piece was found.
Enter your pieces on Sunday before 1:00 pm.
Each entry must be authentic, unaltered, and found in the body of water named on your entry card.
You or someone in your immediate family must have found the item. No purchased items allowed.
Announcement of winners will take place on Sunday afternoon.

Winners of the Sea Glass Contest will take home cash prizes ($250 for Find of the Year winner and $50 for winner in each category) and their pieces will be featured in Beachcombing Magazine. See photos from past festivals › Good luck!

Make it a destination weekend

Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929 to gather and preserve the rapidly disappearing artifacts of America’s seafaring past, the Museum has grown to become a national center for research and education with the mission to “inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.”

The Mystic Seaport Museum grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, Connecticut, and include a recreated New England coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. The Museum is home to more than 500 historic watercraft, including four National Historic Landmark vessels, most notably the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, America’s oldest commercial ship still in existence.

Learn more about Mystic Seaport Museum ›

Mystic, Connecticut

If you are looking to escape for a getaway this summer, Mystic, Connecticut is the perfect quintessential New England vacation destination. Nestled halfway between New York and Boston and accessible via Amtrak, Mystic is the perfect getaway. Settled in 1654, Mystic was once a shipbuilding seaport village. Today, the shoreline community has quintessential New England charm, where historical sea captain’s homes line the river and shops and eateries line Main street. Visitors can enjoy shopping, art galleries, Mystic Seaport, Mystic Aquarium, Denison Homestead, Mystic Museum of Art, and Olde Mistick Village.

Learn more about visiting Mystic ›