Ocean on Tap Continues to Inspire Entering its Second Year

Ocean on Tap, the casual, monthly speaker series organized by Bigelow Laboratory staff, celebrated a significant milestone earlier this winter: one year of enchanting the Boothbay community with the fun and weird world of the ocean.

This February, to celebrate that first anniversary, the organizers put on an entertaining trivia night, giving attendees the chance to show off their ocean knowledge (and, for some, their impressive track record of Ocean on Tap attendance!). Since then, the series has launched into its second year with a full slate of interesting talks on deck, covering everything from recent innovations in fishing gear to so-called forever chemicals in Maine’s coastal environment.

“It’s been a pleasure to be part of this event, both as an organizer and a speaker,” said Melissa Rocker, a postdoctoral scientist at Bigelow Laboratory who spoke about “nautical nutrition” back in September. “I often get neighbors asking about when the next event takes place. It’s wonderful to see how keen the community is to engage with, and learn about, these interesting areas of science.”

Since February 2024, locals and visitors have gathered monthly on Thursdays at Footbridge Brewery to hear from scientists, resource managers, and community leaders. For researchers, it’s a chance to practice presentation skills, reach a broad audience, and explore quirkier areas of their work. For attendees, it’s an opportunity to engage with the plethora of science and environmental organizations in the area and build a community, especially through the quiet offseason.

Almost 50 people gathered for the first — perhaps annual, the organizers say — Ocean on Tap-themed trivia night to celebrate the anniversary back on February 20. Nine teams competed for a Footbridge Brewery gift card and permanent glory in the form of a unique plaque inscribed on a preserved lobster claw to be displayed at the brewery.

Questions covered everything from fisheries and navigation to charismatic megafauna and “little green things,” and they were carefully curated to appeal to regular attendees and general ocean enthusiasts alike (though regulars were given a leg up with an intermission picture round matching up talks from the first year to the whimsical cartoons that organizer Reyn Yoshioka, a postdoctoral scientist at Bigelow Laboratory, designs for each talk).

In the end, the team “Here for the Beer” won in a tense tiebreaker that asked about the depth of the deepest part of the ocean — almost 36,000 feet!

“As an educator, and a trivia regular, I’ve seen how effective these games can be to bring in new audiences of all ages and get them excited about science,” said Evan Henerberry, Bigelow Laboratory’s education coordinator who served as the emcee for the night and shared a travelogue of the Galapagos Islands back for his talk last July.

A month later, the bar was full again for the first talk of the second year, in which another Bigelow Laboratory postdoc, Isaac Miller, delighted the audience with comparisons between Golden Corral and the marine microbial buffet that drives much of the life on Earth.

The feedback, from attendees and the brewery staff, to both the trivia night and the event broadly have been overwhelmingly positive, and the organizers hope to parlay that enthusiasm to continue to grow the event by expanding the roster of speakers and reaching new audiences. They’re also hoping to build on the trivia night to explore other, creative ways to share ocean science as the event continues to evolve in its second year.

“When we started brainstorming this, we couldn’t imagine that it would grow into what it’s become and would be going so strong over a year in,” said organizer Alaina Weinheimer, a postdoctoral fellow at Bigelow Laboratory. “None of this would be possible, though, without the ongoing support of Footbridge Brewery and the enthusiasm of speakers and all the people in town who show up month after month.”

Ocean on Tap continues this month with a talk by Laura Sofen at Footbridge Brewery at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 24. She’ll talk about doing field research in the world’s most remote ocean region, during which she’ll take attendees on a virtual reality tour of a two-month expedition from Tahiti to Chile. Email oceanontap@gmail.com to sign up for regular notifications as talks are scheduled.

Photo Captions:

Photo 1: One team debates the answer to a question during the Ocean on Tap anniversary trivia in February 2025.

Photo 2: Organizers kick off the anniversary trivia night.

Photo 3: Trivia participants match up titles from the last year with the unique cartoons for each talk during a special picture round.

Photo 4: FEMA Storm Outreach and Recovery Coordinator Brenda Hamilton provides materials for attendees during her January 2025 talk on storm resilience.

Photo 5: Attendees listen to Isaac Miller discuss microbial feeding habits during the March 2025 talk to kick off the second year of Ocean on Tap.