A common sight at Rhode Island beaches are paddleboarders. The past decade has expanded the paddleboarding scene from a novelty craze to a part of the state’s identity surrounding water activities. Despite the popularity, there have been few opportunities to bring paddlers together in a social and competitive manner. This year, lifeguard veteran Brian Guadagno […]
Ruthie Wood
Ruthie Wood is a recent graduate from Johns Hopkins University and burgeoning writer. As she works on her dreams of becoming a novelist, you can find her writing about Rhode Island living for What'sUpNewp. She has also written articles for Hey Rhody, Providence Monthly, The Bay, and SO Rhode Island magazines.
Posted inArts & Culture
Student documentary filmmakers celebrated at newportFILM’s docUnbound screening
Tuesday, June 10 marked the premiere of two short documentaries made by newportFILM’s newest batch of homegrown filmmakers. Screened at the Firehouse Theater in Newport, “The People’s Policy” and “Talking Ghostly” were the semester-long capstone projects made by students participating in newportFILM’s Documentary Unbound (or “docUnbound,” for short) program. First beginning in February of 2022, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Spring Visitors Weekend at West Place Animal Sanctuary shows off the nonprofit’s old and new friends
West Place Animal Sanctuary is gearing up for their first public visitors weekend of the year: Spring Visitors Weekend. The nonprofit is opening their doors to the public on May 31st and June 1st from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to raise funds for their wards and to showcase their ongoing efforts to provide a […]
Posted inNews, Nonprofit
One year after diagnosis: Middletown Tree Commission continues to fight beech leaf disease in Albro Woods
One year ago, Middletown’s Tree Commission and Open Space Committee joined forces and created a pilot program to rehabilitate the canopy of Albro Woods from beech leaf disease. The discovery of the disease in the nine-acre forest spelled disaster: beech leaf disease causes beeches – especially the American beech tree – to lose their canopy […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A piece of Ukrainian hope and resilience is screening from newportFILM
“Unprecedented” seems to be the word of the year ever since the COVID-19 pandemic. The word, a neutral adjective that could be used to describe any type of novel event, has mostly been used with a negative connotation over the past five years. Yet despite the vast number of (negative) unprecedented happenings at home and […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Food & Drink
Buzz in fast, drink local beer, waste no food
Approximately what percent of food supply in the United States is wasted each year? Is it A) 5-10%; B) 10-20%; C) 25-30%; or D) 35-40%? This is the type of question that will be asked at Long Live Beerworks on April 9th when the University of Rhode Island’s (URI’s) Cooperative Extension hosts a Zero Waste […]
Posted inBusiness
More space, more coffee, No Vacancy
What started as a coffee-infused dream turned into a small pop-up success for cousins and Tiverton-natives Tom Amaral and Colby Machado. Now, their small business, No Vacancy, is expanding in size and in permanence; no longer at Mission, they’ve moved next door to Mission’s sister shop, Utility, for expanded space and hours. “I got into […]
Posted inNews
Chicken Run: The cruel price of Avian Flu
When egg prices are high, people hold off on making omelets. When the prices of eggs stay high, and in fact continue to rise due to circumstances like bird flu, people start feeling the pressure on their wallets and begin to take home economics into their own hands. They buy chicks. Bird flu, H5N1, or […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Hop to It! Roger Williams Park Zoo hosts FrogWatch USA training
Early March contains the first harbingers of the shifting seasons. The temperature starts to fitfully rise, the sun stays out for longer – noticeably, as we spring forward the clocks – and after dusk comes the unmistakable chiming chorus of spring: the peeps of Spring Peeper frogs. Spring Peepers are the first frogs to make […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Say cheese! Mac-N-Cheese Smackdown winners announced
The Newport Marriott was immediately bustling and busy as the doors opened for the seventh annual Mac & Cheese Smackdown during the Newport Winter Festival. Tickets were the key to entry as well as the way to cast a vote for Best Mac & Cheese. Tasters were faced with choosing one out of twelve local […]
Posted inArts & Culture
On a quest to revive Parkgate
The Parkgate Restoration Association (PRA) is asking for the community’s help. The nonprofit, established in 2022, is working to restore the Parkgate Estate, perhaps more commonly known as the Newport Elks Lodge, “to its former Gilded Age Glory,” Caroline Caswell says, treasurer of the association. Since its establishment, the organization has raised over $100,000 and […]
Posted inBusiness
Triple Espresso Order: Grafik Coffee has three plans to expand this spring
Grafik Coffee used to be a Subway, and before that, an ice cream shop. The building on East Main Road that has seen the rise and fall of other businesses has become the prime location for a hip coffee joint in Portsmouth. After just over one year of being in business, the community support Grafik […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The results are in for the 25th annual Rhode Island BioBlitz
The RI Natural History Survey presented its initial findings on the twenty-fifth annual Rhode Island BioBlitz at Middletown Town Hall on Thursday night. This BioBlitz, which took place on June 7-8, 2024, surveyed the biodiversity at the Norman Bird Sanctuary, making the Middletown sanctum one of two repeat locations a BioBlitz has been held (the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Sparkle! returns to Blithewold for the holiday season
It’s beginning to look alot like Christmas at Blithewold Manor in Bristol. Garlands, wreaths, and decorated Christmas trees inside the manor house speak to the anticipation and magic of Santa Claus, and all throughout the grounds, thousands of lights and lit decorations shine along the pathways and cascade from tree branches. In the pitch black […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Not your Christmas goose: Citizen scientists prepare for the 125th Audubon Christmas Bird Count on Aquidneck Island and across North America
It’s 5:15 on a snowy December morning. It’s dark, and very cold, but you can hear the soft hoo-hoo-ing of owls. Then, you see it glide across the starry sky and perch in a tree in front of you: the snow-dusted silhouette of a screech owl. It sounds like a scene only Hallmark holiday magic […]
Posted inNews
Sparkling boats and a fishing Santa Claus: The 2024 Newport Illuminated Boat Parade draws a merry crowd
The waterfront was packed Friday evening with what seemed like thousands of holiday merrymakers squeezing onto docks and wharves, on roofs and balconies, and into bars and restaurants that overlook the harbor to get a decent vantage point of the 2024 Newport Illuminated Boat Parade. The parade started at 6 p.m., and for the merrymakers […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Santa Sets Sail: The annual Newport Illuminated Boat Parade casts off November 29
It’s nearly the ten-day countdown to the event that marks the official Christmas season on Aquidneck Island: the Newport Illuminated Boat Parade. Organizers from Discover Newport, Sail Newport, the Newport Yacht Club, the Newport City Council, and volunteers are preparing to celebrate the holidays and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the annual parade on November 29, […]
Posted inFood & Drink
What’s in Season: Varieties of winter squash from Goodwin Brothers Farm prompts a simple meal to recognize Native American Heritage Month
Despite the unseasonably warm weather this November, the typical growing season in Rhode Island is drawing to a close. Many produce-selling farm stands hibernate for the winter, just as their Christmas tree farm counterparts prepare for the upcoming holidays. This does not mean, however, that it is impossible to buy fresh and local produce. It […]
Posted inBusiness
What’s in Season: Pluck late-season apples and quinces off the trees at Rocky Brook Orchard
As October slowly draws to a close, so too does apple picking season – for most orchards. One farm reigns supreme in season longevity, Rocky Brook Orchard in Middletown, and the secret has to do with species. Greg and Katy Ostheimer, owners of Rocky Brook Orchard, bought the Middletown property about twenty-five years ago, in […]
Posted inFood & Drink, News, Things To Do
Photo Gallery: Bowen’s Wharf Seafood Festival returns for 33rd year
The 33rd Annual Bowen’s Wharf Seafood Festival is in full swing this weekend on Bowen’s Wharf in Newport. Visitors are flocking to the historic wharf to enjoy the “Harvest of the Sea” under beautiful sunny skies. Running Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the festival offers a mouthwatering array of fresh, local […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Sakonnet River Bridge lights up red for Dyslexia Awareness Month
The Sakonnet River Bridge is one of the three main bridges Aquidneck Islanders use to travel off-island. Located in Portsmouth, this bridge connects the island to Tiverton, and it has a special bonus feature distinct from the other two bridges: color-changing lights. The colors of the lights mean something different each time they are lit. […]
Posted inFood & Drink
What’s in Season: Cucumber Hill Farm’s sugar pumpkins are no trick and all treat this Halloween
Aquidneck Islanders know how to have a good time in October, celebrating autumn and Halloween. The Norman Bird Sanctuary hosts their Harvest Fair, Escobar’s Farm corn maze opens for the season, and Quonset View Farm pivots from their PYO summertime strawberries to PYO jack-o’-lanterns in their extensive pumpkin patch. These fall festivities are iconic for […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Newport Ghosts launches historic tours that uncover the skeletons in the city’s streets
October is the spooky month. Vampires, ghouls, demons, and ghosts are icons of Halloween, horror, and stories to tell in the dark. For those who get a thrill out of the supernatural, October is the pinnacle time to look for the creepy, the spooky, and the inexplicable in real life; this month is ghost hunting […]
Posted inNews
From Then to Now: Celebrating 50 years of the Norman Bird Sanctuary’s Harvest Fair
2024 is a big year for the Norman Bird Sanctuary (NBS). This year marks the 75th anniversary of the sanctuary’s founding, and it also marks fifty years since Norman Bird Sanctuary’s first Harvest Fair. Hosting a large fair is no walk in the garden – especially considering the Harvest Fair has become a staple for […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Fungus Among Us: An underground Rhode Island society unites the mycologically curious
For many, “mushroom” holds no value beyond the plate. Mushrooms are an additive on pizzas, an umami star of some Asian dishes like ramen, egg rolls, and stir-fries, cooked into omelets, and considered a triumphant delicacy of haut cuisine when finely grated over pasta. Others might hear “mushroom” and think of home ownership worries, like […]