A Fall Day and Seafood Festival in Newport, Rhode Island

The visited Newport, Rhode Island this past summer for a day and also went to the Newport Flower Show but there are always so many festivals, fairs, and other events going on that we seem to find ourselves back in Newport a lot of the time. For us it is a perfect day trip because it is just over an hour drive. Anything over an hour gets to be more like going on vacation and the traveling can take a lot of the fun out of the day.

We went to Newport this Fall day to see what was going on at Bowen’s Wharf. They were having a Seafood Festival. The wharf was full of people enjoying the crisp Fall weather, listening to local bands, and sampling local beers and seafood dishes.

We decided to eat at a small restaurant instead of getting small portion. However, the restaurant we picked was a part of the festival so we order their Portuguese Clam Chowder on the side. I have never heard of that kind of clam chowder. It was really good. It was more like Rhode Island clam chowder but it had Portuguese sausage in it that gave it a little more spice than usual. For the main meal we both had cod fillet sandwiches.

Newport is one of the best places to go to try all kinds of seafood. You will find stuff quahogs, clam chowder – New England and Rhode Island (which is hard to find) – mussels, cod, lobster, lobster bisques, claim fritters, clam cakes, and lots more. Most of the restaurants in Newport feature seafood.

While looking for a place to park we drove past the Newport Blue Cafes where one of our favorite band, Sugar, plays, and noticed that next to it was a building we had never noticed before. It was full of people but what were they doing inside? Having a meeting? No, wait, they are eating. I had to investigate. Come to find out it was the old People’s Bank but now is the People’s Cafe and Market. When you walk in the door you feel very warm and welcome and straight across from the door you can see what is left of the old vault. It is huge. You can walk around the wall and also see it from behind.

When we visited this new cafe and coffee shop had only been open a month but there were already locals gathering to make it their new “watering hole”. We grabbed some coffee for our walk around Newport after our long lunch and we give this place a huge thumbs up. The coffee was great and we will be back next time we are in town. You should check them out too.

Next we walked up the hill to the Trinity Church and saw their pumpkin patch.

We stopped at some shops we haven’t looked in before like the Reign Art Gallery and Kilwin’s candy shop. We fell in love with the painting in the window and we found it was from Alexei Butirskiy, an artist we had never heard of before. His work is stunning and the way he uses color makes you feel like the painting is coming to life. Our favorite was the “Le Musset” oil on canvas.

Kilwin’s was making fudge and it was resting on the tables when we arrived. On the counter were free fudge samples and the more decadent fudge and chocolate concoctions you can imagine. The smells from the outside drew us in.

Bowen’s Wharf in Newport is a great way to spend a day even if there are no festivals going on. It doesn’t cost a thing to walk around. You can have fun on nothing sometimes and enjoy yourself just as much as if you spend a lot of money.

If you are looking for things to do in Newport at Bowen’s Wharf then check out their calendar of events at www.bowenswharf.com/bowens_wharf_events.html