Rhode Island Summer Bucket List

Meaghan Susi.

Catch the fests from the water.
Snag a kayak or a seaworthy float (or, better yet, a real boat!) and catch the world’s best folk and jazz performers from Newport Harbor. It costs nothing and, when the music is delivered to your vessel on the back of a breeze, you’ll wonder why, in the name
of James Taylor, you ever did things differently. Fort Adams, Newport, newportfolk.com; newportjazz.com

See an original Rhode Island dance form.
Every August, Narragansett leaders and tribal members gather on their reservation in Charlestown for the Annual Meeting, a two-day powwow with storytelling, arts and crafts for sale and traditional cuisine. But the main event is the round dance, an intertribal drumming-dancing-singing circle featuring Eastern war dance, fancy shawl dance and other art forms practiced by champion powwow dancers in traditional regalia. narragansettindiannation.com

Get up before dawn and catch the eastern seaboard’s best sunrise.
Any eastward-facing beach will do, but we’re partial to Napatree Point in Westerly. Those comfortable on the wrong side of the law might pack Champagne and strawberries to toast the new day.

Peek around a secret garden in Little Compton.
It’s usually only open two days a year but, new in 2021, the grounds of Sakonnet Gardens are available to explore all summer long. Native species and a one-acre pollinator garden are sure to impress. sakonnetgarden.net

Grab the brass ring at the Crescent Park Carousel.
Round and round you go atop the brightly painted horses. Each rotation you strain your arm, stretching your fingers, grazing the brass ring. If you time the rise and fall of the horses just right, you’re bound to get the ring at least once, right? Right? Rides are just $2, so keep going until you earn a freebie (or until you’re too dizzy to hold on). One of the fourteen remaining carousels in the United States to feature a brass ring dispenser, this 126-year-old Looff design is housed in a charming white pavilion in East Providence.
Go on, have some old-school fun. crescentparkcarousel.org

Frosty Drew observatory.

Ogle the stars from Rhode Island’s dark spots.
North Scituate and Charlestown boast observatories for good reason. The rural communities have minimal light pollution, making them primo spots to view the major celestial events of the summer: the Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower in late July; Saturn in opposition on August 2; the Perseids Meteor Shower in mid-August; and a big blue moon on August 22. Head to Seagrave or Frosty Drew for guided peeping or find a dark corner of your own and take in outer space. theskyscrapers.org; frostydrew.org

Snorkel with the sharks (and try not to get bit).
On Rhode Island Shark Diving excursions and daytrips, the only thing between you and the jaws of a mako shark is a five-millimeter wetsuit. Now that’s close. Snorkel, cage-free, on the surface with the sharks encircling you and the well-trained crew. They know their stuff; two even helped create footage for Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. rhodeislandsharkdiving.com