Buoys by the Bay opens in Scheer Park on November 20. Every buoy on those five trees has to be bought on Main Street first, then painted, glued or knitted over at somebody's kitchen table, then handed back. Each fall a share of the buoys that sell don't make it back in time to hang on opening night. That makes these last days of October and the first week of November the stretch of the season that decides what the display looks like.
Opening night is set for November 20 from 5:30 to 6 p.m. at Scheer Park, on the corner of Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, next to the train fence. The display then runs from November 21 to mid-January. Niantic Main Street and the East Lyme Public Trust Foundation sponsor and produce it.
An idea brought home from Bar Harbor
The display goes back to a holiday trip. Carol Marelli, a volunteer with the East Lyme Public Trust Foundation, visited Bar Harbor, Maine, during the holidays and saw trees hung with decorated buoys. The Day reported in 2024 that she brought the idea back to Niantic and started Buoys by the Bay the year before.
What caught her eye in Maine was who had done the decorating. She told The Day:
"It wasn't all artists, it was residents who decorated the trees, and the creativity everyone had was incredible. I just thought there's no reason Niantic couldn't do that."
That idea still drives the event. The trees are a frame, and the buoys come from whoever buys them. Kathie Cassidy, a foundation volunteer, told the paper the trees carry buoys from "local businesses and neighbors and students and friends," and that "every one is unique."
Three seasons, counted at the trees
The figures below come from local news coverage, and in each year the count was taken at a different point in the season. Taken together, they show how much the display depends on buoys coming back.
| Year | Buoys sold | Buoys on the trees when counted | Designs reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023, first year | All 300 | Displayed on five trees | Pigs, winter scenes, crabs, Crescent Beach ladies |
| 2024, second year | 270 so far | 180 returned decorated, days before opening | Children's finger paintings, a fur dog, sketched local scenes, a flamingo |
| 2025, third year | Almost 300, the maximum available | Just over 200 strung on install day | A knitted octopus, a carousel-style buoy, seashells, sea glass, glitter paint |
Each year, a good share of the buoys sold were still out being decorated when the trees went up. In the week before opening night in 2024, roughly a third of the buoys sold had not come back decorated. In 2025, volunteers strung just over 200 buoys on install day against close to 300 sold. Those buoys aren't lost. Late ones still go up. Last year's guidelines from Niantic Main Street said buoys returned after the deadline would be added to the display, with no promise they would be hung by opening night.
So the trees fill in over the season. If you want your buoy up when the carolers are there, the return date counts for more than the purchase date.
The 2025 coverage in The Day caught the install itself. Volunteer Jesse Perrault, of Waterford, stood on a ladder fastening the carousel buoy while ducking a knitted octopus. The trees are wrapped in garland and solar lights. Last year also added something new: small fish painted by children with the Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut.
Where a blank buoy comes from
Niantic Main Street's event page says buoys are on sale now at three Main Street businesses. The page also lists Thursdays at the Niantic Farmers Market, but the market wrapped up its 2026 season on October 22. That leaves the storefronts:
- Mermaid Liquors, 159 Main Street, a beer, wine and spirits shop.
- Coastal Gifts on Main, 266 Main Street, a shop for casual apparel and local coastal gifts.
- Café SoL, 488 Main Street, a restaurant offering healthy options.
The three shops sit along about a third of a mile of Main Street, so picking up a buoy fits easily into a walk downtown. Last year Niantic Main Street noted that Coastal Gifts on Main and Mermaid Liquors seemed to be in a friendly competition over who could sell the most buoys.
The 2026 event page doesn't list a price, a return deadline or a cap on the number of buoys. Last year's terms are a reasonable guide to what to ask the shops about:
- A buoy cost $50.
- Buoys returned by November 7 were promised a spot for opening night.
- Sales were capped at 300 buoys.
- Anyone could take part. Businesses, students and children were all welcome, and you didn't need to live in East Lyme or Niantic.
- Buoys could be painted, decoupaged or decorated however the owner liked. The committee asked people not to submit anything offensive, violent, lewd or political, and kept the right to reject a buoy.
- Every buoy went back to its owner when the display ended.
If this year's opening night is a day earlier than last year's November 21, the return date may move up too. The 2025 return date fell exactly two weeks before opening night. Confirm the 2026 date at the counter when you buy, or check Niantic Main Street's events page.
Where the money goes: proceeds are split between Niantic Main Street and the East Lyme Public Trust Foundation. The two groups use them to produce events through the year and to support local nonprofits. A $50 buoy pays for a decoration that comes back to you in January and also helps fund next summer's events downtown.
The weeks between now and the lights
Counting back from opening night, the season lays out like this. Dates without a 2026 source are marked as estimates.
- Now through early November. Buy a buoy at Mermaid Liquors, Coastal Gifts on Main or Café SoL, and decorate it. Going by last year's two-week lead, expect the return date around the first week of November.
- Mid-November. Volunteers build the trees and string the buoys. In 2025 the install happened the Tuesday before opening night.
- Friday, November 20, 5:30 p.m. Opening night at Scheer Park. Last year's opening featured carolers from The Music Studio.
- Saturday, November 28, noon to 6 p.m. The 23rd annual Niantic Holiday Stroll, with more than 25 shop and restaurant specials and a 5 p.m. tree lighting at Liberty Green.
- Mid-January. The display comes down, and owners pick up their buoys.
The Stroll lands eight days after the trees go up, so it's the first big Main Street afternoon with the full display in place. Any late buoys will have had time to join the trees.
Scheer Park has its own Main Street history. Niantic Main Street describes it as the spot where the old gas station used to be. From November to January, five trees of homemade buoys stand on that corner.
Getting to the water this fall
A buoy run on Main Street goes well with a walk by the water, but one of the two boardwalks is closed for now. The Town of East Lyme announced that the Niantic River Boardwalk would close for re-decking starting October 5 for about six weeks. At that pace the work would finish around mid-November, close to when the buoy trees go up. The town hasn't announced a reopening date.
The Niantic Bay Boardwalk is a separate structure and stays open. Access is the usual way, from Cini Park or Hole-in-the-Wall, and cars can still get into Cini Park. For questions about the River Boardwalk work, East Lyme Public Works is at 860-691-4118.
That makes for an easy late-October loop: pick up a blank buoy at one of the three shops, walk the Bay Boardwalk from Cini Park, and take the buoy home to paint before the return date.
I've spent a lot of years watching shoreline towns build their own traditions, and Buoys by the Bay is one Niantic has grown in just three seasons. If you're painting one this year, or you'd like to talk about the town those trees stand in, Jennifer Gurnell would love to hear from you. Let's connect, and start your shoreline search or sale.
