New London's Sailfest kicks off

NEW LONDON, Conn. (WTNH) - New London's Sailfest is kicking off, and people are in for a treat.

If you're planning to come to Sailfest this year there are a couple of changes. You can still bring a small lunch bag or even a beach chair to set up for the fireworks, but don't bring any large bags or any large coolers. Those are banned and that's because police want to avoid any unnecessary alarm if someone leaves and one of them is left behind.

Officers don't want a repeat of the scene in May when a suspicious bag shut down downtown New London while the bomb squad moved in. During Sailfest upwards of three hundred thousand people could fill the streets where there could be some dancing.

"We're doing the cupid shuffle with cupid and so really excited about that. We have a lot of vendors, we have a 5k road race," says Barbara Neff of Sailfest 2011.

David French has been bringing his Hammerhead Seafood creations up from Florida since OpSail 2000.

"We love coming back here, the people are great, it's a great location," says French.

Folks can also catch some music, or climb on board the tall ship Gazela. But the highlight is fireworks which will light up the sky Saturday night.

Along with Amtrak, a special Shoreline East train will come from New Haven Saturday.

"Leaving at approximately 5:05p.m getting into New London at 6:10p.m and then leaving at 11:00p.m after the fireworks, making all the stops back to New Haven," says Neff.

Sara Lambert says she is looking forward to just having fun.

"To get something, look around, go on some rides if they even had any. I think they're up there on the other side," says Logan Avin of Waterford.

The rides and food all moved to Eugene O'Neill Drive because the city pier where they usually are is closed for construction.