Middleborough to Host 10th Annual Herring Run Festival in Honor of Largest East Coast Herring Run

Sponsored by Middleborough Tourism Committee and Grants from Mass Cultural Council and Middleborough Cultural Council

MIDDLEBOROUGH – The Middleborough Tourism Committee would like to invite community members to attend its 10th Annual Herring Run Festival this coming weekend. 

The Annual Herring Run Festival celebrates the local herring population and the fish’s historical importance to the Town of Middleborough. The festival also coincides with the largest herring run on the east coast.

This year’s festival will be held on Saturday, April 15, and Sunday, April 16 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at Oliver Mill Park, 8 Nemasket St. 

The free event will feature merchant and food vendors, games, exhibits, demonstrations, live music, a beer garden, and herring sightings. There will also be informational sessions given by members of the Wampanoag Tribe, ecological and environmental-based non-profits, the herring/fishery commissions, and more. The schedule for each day of the festival:

Saturday, April 15:

• 10:50-11 a.m.: National Anthem performed by Jenna McLaughlin, Miss Massachusetts Outstanding Teen
• 11-11:45 a.m.: Kyle Akin, performing rock music
• 11:50 a.m. to 12:35 p.m.: Colette O’Connor, singer/songwriter performing songs
• 12:40 -1 p.m.: Darius Coombs – Historical Nemasket River presentation and honoring of Mashpee Wampanoag youth
• 1:10 -1:55 p.m.: Dennis & Dennis, performing bluegrass music
• 2 -2:45 p.m.: Ric Allendorf, singer/songwriter performing lite rock and folk rock
• 2:50 -3:35 p.m.: Ann Cavanaugh, performing light rock, country, folk and Celtic music

Community members are also encouraged to watch members of the Wampanoag Tribe enter the festival via canoe on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 16:

• 10:50-11 a.m.: National Anthem performed by Tori Kalisz, Miss New Bedford
• 11:05 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Andy Cavanaugh, performing classic rock, light rock and folk
• 12:10-1:10 p.m.: Speedy Lapanna, performing classic rock
• 1:20-2:20 p.m.: Shawno, performing a mix of classic rock and “oldies” 
• 2:30-3:30 p.m.: Billy Mulligan Jr., performing a mix of lite rock, country and “oldies”

Parking

Free shuttle parking is available both days at the Middleborough Town Hall (10 Nickerson Ave.), Burkland and Mary K. Goode Elementary Schools (Mayflower Avenue) and on Jackson Street. Additional parking will be available at 99 North St. for $5.

Handicap-accessible parking is available at the Council on Aging, 558 Plymouth St. There will be a free shuttle for members of the community that park in this lot as well.

About the Herring Run Festival

Herring has been culturally and historically linked to this area, starting with the native Wampanoag Tribe that lived along the river, and then later as a fishing commodity when the area was settled by Europeans.

In recent years, herring have become more of a symbol at the festival for the education of the environmental concerns surrounding the Nemasket River, fed by the larger Taunton River, and the larger watershed area. To learn more about the Town of Middleborough’s herring history, click here.

This year’s festival was also featured in SotuhCoast Almanac’s “8 Great Things in April”. 

The festival is supported in part by grants from the Middleborough Cultural Council and the Mass Cultural Council. 

For more information, check out the Middleborough Tourism Committee on Facebook, email at discovermiddleborough@gmail.com, or call 774-766-6335.

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