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Hear Philly: The Shore Thing - Strawberries, A Celebration Of The Sea, and Seafood Galore

By Andrew Kramer

CAPE MAY, N.J. (CBS) - The summer activities in Cape May are underway now.

The Cape May Music Festival began late May and continues through the middle of June, as Susan Krysiak with the Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts explains:

"The Cape May Music Festival is three weeks of wonderful music by the sea in Cape May. It goes until June 12th and we have 13 different events and we're celebrating our 25th year this year."

In the middle of enjoying the variety of musical performances, including 'A Night in New Orleans,' 'The 3rd Annual George Mesterhazy Tribute Concert' and the 'New Jersey Symphony Orchestra,' head over to West Cape May for the Strawberry Festival, where coordinator Diane Flanegan says eating isn't the only thing to do:

"There's 100 vendors, we have music all day, we have all kinds of things strawberry. Not just typical strawberry shortcake and strawberry tarts and things like that, but we have people making strawberry pottery, we have strawberry earrings, we have strawberry jewelry, strawberry stained glass and all kinds of food related to strawberries."

Strawberry Festival The Shore Thing Cape May Hear Philly
The Strawberry Festival returns to West Cape May this month.credit cbs

On top of all that, another highlight of the day is the crowning of the strawberry king and queen on the stage at Wilbraham Park. The festival takes place on Saturday, June 7th.

The following week, Krysiak says a it'll be a "celebration of the sea" on June 14th:

"Harborfest is held on the Cape May Harbor during the day, and usually the weather this time of year is really nice. It's a great time to do outdoor activities, there's lots of kids activities, there's marine educational activities and it's a fun day."

Harborfest begins at 10 a.m. More information is on Harborfest's website.

Krysiak adds the Victorian Fair - another family-friendly event - rounds out the month of June in Cape May:

"It's all about fun things to do for kids and families together that are maybe a little bit out of the ordinary. We have old-time sort of games and things that are part of what the Victorian lifestyle was at the time.

That takes place at the Emlen Physick Estate June 28th, beginning at 10 a.m. For more on that as well as the music festival, check out the Mid Atlantic Center's website.

That same day, Mayor of the City of Cape May Dr. Edward Mahaney says they'll host an inaugural event in the city -- the Seafood Festival:

"We are attempting to provide educational and environmental exhibits that will show the general public exactly how the seafood industry sustains itself. As a very nice recreational feature, we will have a beach party dance band on the deck of Convention Hall from 7-9 p.m. to close out the event.

And yes, seafood will be available for sampling, at a reduced price.

"The seafood involved will be many species," says Mahaney, "including common species such as flounder and crab, but also some other species that are under-utilized that are large catches in our Cape May market such as whelk, cusp and spiny dogfish."

The Seafood Festival begins at 11 a.m. Cape May's website has additional information.

And that's The Shore Thing for this month.

Listen to the full podcast (runs 3:37)…

The Shore Thing: Cape May

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