Saturday, Jan. 25 and Sunday, Jan. 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
GLOUCESTER (January 2025) – To celebrate the fish city’s recognizably salty character, the Gloucester’s So Salty festival is back on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Cape Ann Museum is partnering with Discover Gloucester and other area cultural institutions and businesses for the fourth annual event. The celebration will feature two days of family-friendly and free programming around downtown Gloucester, including ice sculptures, live music, salty treats, free kids’ art activities and more.
“This event is vital to bring the families and businesses that make this community together each winter,” said Oliver Barker, Director of the Cape Ann Museum. “Gloucester’s So Salty captures the Cape Ann Museum’s commitment to bring community-based activities and art to everyone. CAM is where art meets life, and life meets art, and we are excited to work across this community to bring the fourth year of this festival to fruition.”
Don Chapelle carving an ice sculpture, Photo courtesy of Aram Boghosian
The 2024 celebration brought together over 1,800 people to share their Gloucester pride while enjoying free ice sculptures and cultural activities around the city. The 2025 ice sculptures, which are created by Donald Chapelle from Brilliant Ice in North Andover, are sponsored by the Cape Ann Museum, Cape Ann Accommodations, Cape Ann Savings Bank, Machaca Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, The Sargent House Museum, and the Sawyer Free Library, Oak to Ember and Lockwood Studios.
A featured ice sculpture on view outside the Museum’s Downtown campus will be inspired by the Museum’s recently inaugurated Portrait of a Sculptor: Walker Hancock & Michael Lafferty exhibition. The show, which is free and open to the public, features photographs inside the Gloucester studio of renowned sculptor Walker Hancock (1901-1998) and will be open both days of the festival, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Cape Ann Museum Green campus, 13 Poplar Street, Gloucester.
The schedule for Gloucester’s So Salty activities includes:
- All Weekend
o Grab a map from the Cape Ann Museum Information Tent, 27 Pleasant St., and find the Ice Sculptures around Downtown Gloucester
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- Enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner, or a Sweet & Salty Cocktail, in an Igloo at Mile Marker One, 75 Essex Ave Route 133
- 25% discount on room rates, Blue Shutters Beachside Inn, 1 Nautilus Road, Gloucester
- 20% off all bath mills and bath salts, Goodlinens Studio, 130 Main St.
- 20% off salt and select products, Cape Ann Olive Oil, 57 Main St.
- Buy one, get one free chocolate chip cookie specially topped with Maldon Salts! Source Bakery, 3 Duncan St.
- Grab a piece of Saltwater Taffy + 20% – 50% Off Sale Fireflies Boutique, 100 Main St.
- Add some larger-than-life magnetic words to help make Salty Poetry Snippets + check out a free and $1 book cart, Dogtown Books, 132 Main St.
- 10% off select ‘Salty Books at The Bookstore of Gloucester, 61 Main St.
- $2 Salted Caramel Lattes and 20$ Salty Crew Necks, Castaways Vintage Café, 65 Main St.
- Stay warm and cozy with our amazing socks! All socks – Buy 3, Get 1 FREE! Mark Adrian Shoes, 103 Main St.
- 15% of ALL fine art at the John Sarkin Studio, 39 Main St.
- Free fish gibbet or shark sticker, 20$ Gloucester Lobster or Tuna SPF Hoodie, 30$ Puffer Jackets & Salty Treats at Gloucester Apparel, 44 Main St.
- Free Stickers (New Designs!) & Free Candy at Toodeloos, 142 Main St.
- Paw-Garita with purchase (Dog friendly cucumber drink) at Masshole & Co. Pet Provisions, 137 Main St.
- 25% Off at The Cave, 44 Main St.
- 40% off Storewide and Complimentary Prosecco at Design of Mine (New Location!), 33 Main St.
- Saturday
- Sea Shanties by Three Sheets to the Wind, with Sing Along, at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 2pm – 4pm, 10 Church Street, Gloucester
- Kids of all ages enjoy making a hands-on “Salty Craft” at Maritime Gloucester, 10am – 4pm, 23 Harbor Loop
- Seasoned Snowman Popcorn Bags with The Open Door at Sawyer Free Library, 10:30am-12:00pm, 21 Main Street
- Open Mic Poetry Readings with light refreshments – spoken word, music and poetry welcome. 3pm – 5pm, Lockwood Studios, 2 Eastern Ave.
- Vintage Filagree Treasures Embedded – Eye Spy – Search and Find Hidden Items, at Lockwood Studios, 2 Eastern Ave.
- Sunday
- 10am – 4pm, Kids of all ages, make a hands-on “Salty Craft” at Maritime Gloucester, 23 Harbor Loop
- Paint saltwater dough fish, while supplies last, Local Colors, 121 Main St
- Open Mic Poetry Readings with light refreshments – spoken word, music and poetry welcome. 3pm – 5pm, Lockwood Studios, 2 Eastern Ave.
- 20$ Salty Suncatchers with Saltwater at Pat D’s Photos, 44 Main St.
- Raffle + One day only Special Drinks (Frosty Tide, Salty Beach) at Shore Nutrition, 139 Main St.
- Open Mic Poetry Readings with light refreshments – spoken word, music and poetry welcome. 3pm – 5pm, Lockwood Studios, 2 Eastern Ave.
- Vintage Filagree Treasures Embedded – Eye Spy – Search and Find Hidden Items, at Lockwood Studios, 2 Eastern Ave.
Teaming up as community partners for the 2025 event are the Cape Ann Museum, Discover Gloucester, Sargent House Museum, Oak to Ember, Machaca Mexican Restaurant, The Cape Ann Savings Bank, Sawyer Free Library, Fireflies Boutique, Goodlinens Studio, Lockwood Studios, Castaways Vintage Café, Good Morning Gloucester Apparel, Mark Adrian Shoes, John Sarkin Studio, Three Sheets to the Wind, Mile Marker One, The Hotel at Cape Ann Marina, Lockwood Studios Fine Art & Design Gallery, Cape Ann Olive Oil Co., The Open Door, The Bookstore of Gloucester, Maritime Gloucester, Dogtown Books, Source Bakery, MAGMA, The Vista, Harborview Inn, Cape Ann Motor Inn, Beauport Hotel Gloucester, Blue Shutters Beachside Inn, Atlantic Vacation Homes, The Vista, Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, and The Atlantis Oceanfront Inn.
For more information about the Cape Ann Museum, visit capeannmuseum.org.
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The Cape Ann Museum, founded in 1875, exists to preserve and celebrate the history and culture of the area and to keep it relevant to today’s audiences. Spanning 44,000 square feet, the Museum’s Downtown campus which is closed for renovations through spring 2026, remains a major cultural institution on Boston’s North Shore that has welcomed thousands of local, national, and international visitors annually to its exhibitions, programs and community led events. In addition to fine art, the Museum’s collections include decorative art, textiles, artifacts from the fisheries and granite industries, four historic structures, a Library & Archives and a sculpture garden in the heart of downtown Gloucester.
The Cape Ann Museum Green (CAM Green), the Museum’s campus off Grant Circle and Route 128 in Gloucester is home to the 12,000 square foot Janet & William Ellery James Center, built in 2020 which includes a flexible exhibition and community programming space designed to reach broader audiences with new exhibits and public programs. CAM Green also features three historic structures: the White Ellery House (1710), the Babson-Alling House (c.1740), an adjacent Barn (c.1740), a Contemporary Art Wetu (2023-2024) and a Mush8n (mi-shoon) (2023), an eastern woodlands boat.
General admission to the Cape Ann Museum Green campus is free. Due to limited parking, timed parking reservations for vehicles are recommended.
More information can be found on www.capeannmuseum.org or please call (978)283-0455 x110.
