They couldn't have asked for better weather sunday in Stonington for the 20th annual Fisherman's Day celebration an annual celebration of commercial fishermen and their families. The day also sent the message that the fishing industry is alive and kicking here in Stonington.

All the proceeds for the day went to help the Island Fishermen's Wives Association, an organization that raises money for a variety of needs all over their community. "We give out scholarships for the kids every year going into the fishing community and kids going on to college," says Manda Boycs, Co-President of the Islan Fishermen's Wives Association, "we provide safety training for the coast guard and all of our fishermen at no expense, we do CPR training, hypothermia training, and we give out money to fishermen who's boats have sunk, or who have been injured on or off the boat and to their families if a fishermen has lost his life."

People of all ages packed the commercial pier in Stonington and found no shortage of activities to keep them busy.

"There is a lot going on here today," said Boyce, "tee-shirts for sale, a bounce house for the kids, we got tons and tons of kids games, lots of food, and the coast guard boat is here giving tours and and there's going to be whacky row boat races and a cod fish relay."

Some of the booths were geared towards teaching people about the fishing industry. Phil Averil is the owner of Ocean Adventure and he wanted to educate maine's future generation about commercial fishing. "It's great to know that the town cares enough to celebrate the fishing industry and keep it going," says Averill, "and them having some hard times now as we all are, and there is a great turnout here and good food and fun stuff to do and things to learn it's just a great operation."

For most of the kids here the day was most certainly a success. Some of them came to Stonington from all over the country. "Exciting, exciting and fun," says Austin Manuel with a big smile on hi face, "I thought it was going to be boring when I first got here but it wasn't."

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