More Entertainment Added To Southport Globe Onion Festival Sunday

The following announcement is from the Pequot Library:

FAIRFIELD, CT — Sefra Alexandra (a.k.a. “The Seed Huntress”), the Sausquanaug Association and Pequot Library proudly unveil the October 9th Southport Globe Onion Festival, which will run at the Library from 5 to 7:30 p.m. and is produced in conjunction with the Library’s The Lure of the Garden exhibition. Our intention is to celebrate and honor the return of the once-prolific allium heirloom to our local soils through a variety of free and family-friendly activities.

Kicking off the Festival, guests can either follow longtime Pequot Library Board Member
Richard “Deej” Webb on a walking tour of onion cultivation, storage at a former onion
warehouse site and transportation from Southport Harbor, or stay with The Seed Huntress for a
seed collection walk at Aspetuck Land Trust’s Native Seed Garden facing the Library on
Westway Road.

Upon returning, we will peel back the onion with a bevy of lawn games, including Onion in
Spoon races, and with art projects such as Onion Ink Prints. We’ll enjoy delicious onion hors
d'oeuvres from local restaurants, a bonfire, and a Lackluster Brother concert and also hold a not-to-be-missed inaugural “Onion Drop” to celebrate the official naming of “Onion Day” as we
greet a full moon.

Per Alexandra’s website (seedhuntress.com): “Southport was once considered the ‘Onion Capital
of the World,’ with over 200,000 barrels of onions were shipped on sloop sailboats each year
from 1840-1890 to the New York City Markets. Prized for their taste, storage-ability and high
levels of vitamin C, they were a staple of the Union Navy during the Civil War to prevent scurvy
and the Union Army to treat gangrenous wounds.” Our seaside village was world famous for our
quality of seed, caliber of crop and onion tool cultivation innovations. Let’s join together and
celebrate our agrarian heritage and this humble bulb.

ABOUT THE LURE OF THE GARDEN:
Drawing upon Pequot Library’s rich Special Collections, The Lure of the Garden exhibition (on view until Feb. 5, 2023) reflects the changing tastes, styles, and purposes of gardens as well as their enduring hold on our imaginations. Items on display include everything from practical advice for laying out gardens, raising poultry, and keeping bees to propagating vegetables and keeping the accounts of the farm. Materials from the archives, including diaries and day books from local farmers, document the varieties of plants and fruit trees planted, as well as local produce like the Southport Globe Onions that were shipped from our port to New York City.

Southport Globe Onion Festival attendees can look for receipts from George Jennings for onions
he sold to G. Furman & Co. Merchants in New York City and two circa 1890 photos of onion
fields at Sasco Hill and near Greens Farms, among other items. Visitors will also have access to
a seed catalog and can take home samples for planting.

ABOUT SEFRA ALEXANDRA:
The Seed Huntress is an ethnobotanist on perennial expedition to rewild our landscapes by
preserving the arcs of seed biodiversity- the most vital tool of climate resilience. Her fieldwork
safeguards botanical species around the globe in their soils and seed banks to support local food
security, seed sovereignty + ecological restoration. She holds her MAT in Agroecology from
Cornell University, leads the Ecotype Project, BOATanical.org & is the Directress of
Expeditions for Tactivate.

ABOUT RICHARD “DEEJ” WEBB:
Deej Webb is a local educator and historian who authored Boats Against the Current, a
companion book to a documentary on Westport’s influence upon F. Scott Fitzgerald that he co-
produced with Robert Steven Williams. He headed the New Canaan High School History
Department and has worked as an adjunct professor at Sacred Heart University. He sits on the
Pequot Library Board, among others.

ABOUT SASQUANAUG ASSOCIATION:
The Sasquanaug Association for Southport Improvement was founded in 1887 by a group of
prominent local ladies seeking to improve and beautify the village. At the time, Southport was in
a period of transition from a bustling shipping town to a more residential enclave. Inspired by
similar groups in Connecticut and Massachusetts, they raised funds through membership dues,
bake sales, and lawn parties to fund their endeavors, such as the installation and maintenance of
blue stone sidewalks and kerosene street lamps throughout the village. Today, the Association
continues to preserve and protect Southport and its historical surroundings, and they’ve been at
the forefront of nearly every major public lands victory since their founding.

ABOUT PEQUOT LIBRARY:
Pequot Library’s annual programs for adults and children serve more than 60,000 participants a
year. As a public association library 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Library relies on the
generosity of donors at fundraisers, corporate and community partners, and Friends of Pequot

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