The Southport Globe

Sunday, July 26, 2026

Happy Birthday Howard Burr

(click on image to enlarge)

Howard Burr would have been 126 years old today.
One of Howard Burr's favorite motto's was this: "Don't regret growing old. It's a privilege denied to many."

He also was quoted saying: "I hate hot weather..I was born on July 26, 1900. And I'll tell you what my mother told me: 'It was a hot, humid day and I was glad to get rid of you.'" -- Howard Burr

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Pequot Library Summer Book Sale 2017 video

Pequot Library's 57th Annual Summer Book Sale 2017

https://youtu.be/DkDqzIxIKus

FLASHBACK: Pequot Library Book Sale one hour long documentary from 1993

VIDEO NOTES BY the documenter finleymeboy:

In the summer of 1993 I had a video camera and time on my hands (there was a recession then, too, come to think) and I decided to chronicle the Pequot Library Booksale, a unique event in Southport, CT that draws thousands from all over the region and beyond (Martha Stewart dropped in to promote it one year). The "sale" happens in July, but is a remarkable process that goes on all year, accumulating mass as it goes. I was pretty close to it and the people involved, having worked as a volunteer for years (This is my homage to them). What comes across in this video, if you watch the entire hour, is the peculiar attraction, passion and hunger people have for books, and in this event, a unique ecology of books in which the culture gets circulated from one hand to another, a lot among people who would otherwise not have access to it, and then somehow the whole thing replenishes itself to come back another year. Think about this as people tell you nowadays that books are going away, like newspapers, and this might be of more poignant historical value than I thought. A lot of the good people in this film are gone, but the sale goes on (it goes on now as I speak) as it has for over 50 years, and hopefully will continue long after printed books are "dead."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5s4ZBZArNo

Pequot Library Summer Book Sale July 24-28th

JULY 24-28, 2026

Pequot Library’s Summer Book Sale is one of New England’s biggest and best, attracting readers from all over with an incredible selection of over 100,000 items across 50+ categories. For five days, our Great Lawn, parking lot, auditorium, and historic Reading Room are transformed into a browser’s paradise.

Admission is free. Every purchase you make directly supports Pequot Library’s programs, exhibitions, and services, benefiting more than 56,000 adults and children each year. We raise approximately 20% of our annual operating budget from fundraisers such as our book sales.

Come for the bargains, stay for the experience—it’s a summer tradition you won’t want to miss!

Check back closer to the date for exact times www.pequotlibrary.org

Click here to volunteer. All Book Sale volunteers (along with donors who give $250+ annually) are invited to our Preview Party at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22. Be the very first to browse the treasures before the crowds. Enjoy light refreshments, mingle with fellow book lovers, and kick off the sale in literary style.

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Southport Harbor in 1954

A glimpse of Southport Harbor in 1954.

Courtesy of Codge Bullard Collection.

FLASHBACK: AERIAL VIDEO - Opti Rumble 2014 in the waters off Sasco Beach in Southport

Opti Rumble 2014 at Pequot Yacht Club

Southport CT July 12th, 2014
AERIAL VIDEO

video by David Curtis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83FXKY6c4vI

FLASHBACK: Optimists heading in on the eve of the 2011 Opti Rumble

At Ye Yacht Yard Southport, CT

The Optimist is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy intended for use by children up to the age of 15. Nowadays boats are usually made of fiber reinforced plastic, although wooden boats are still built.
It is one of the most popular sailing dinghies in the world, with over 130,000 boats officially registered with the class and many more built but never registered.
The Optimist is recognized as an International Class by the International Sailing Federation.
The Optimist was designed in 1947 by American Clark Mills. The Soap-box Derby program is sponsored by Optimist International service club to encourage father/son construction of gravity powered cars for down-hill competition. Clearwater has no hills so Mills designed a simple pram that could be built from a single sheet of plywood, and donated the plan to the Optimists. The design was slightly modified and introduced to Europe by the Dane, Axel Damsgaard, and spread outwards across Europe from Scandinavia. The design was standardized in 1960 and became a strict one-design in 1995.
The International Optimist is sailed in over 100 countries by over 160,000 skippers and it is only one of two yachts approved by the International Sailing Federation exclusively for sailors under 16. At the Beijing Olympics, 85% of medal winning skippers were former Optimist dinghy sailors.
The Optimist was designed in 1947 by American Clark Mills.