Join the Branford Land Trust to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Branford’s Fish Ladder with kids activities, fish fashion, a parade, and more! Like schooling fish, the community comes together in a family-friendly, vibrant festivity at the Supply Pond Fish Ladder on Saturday, April 25 from 10 a.m. to Noon. Come wearing your finest fish fashion (cap, t-shirt, fins). Use your imagination — there will be a prize for the best fish costume!
The 20th Anniversary celebration begins with welcome remarks and free kids activities including:
- hands-on activities led by the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
- make your own fish flag to carry in the parade around the pond and take home
- get some fish-inspired face painting and temporary tattoos
- enjoy fish-frenzy snacks
- look into a live eel tank (if the eels are running!)
- listen to live acoustic music by Patrick Gazda and Tomcat Bob
Then enjoy Fish Ladder Viewing and a Parade around Supply Ponds
- Experience a real-life fish run! Walk out onto the ladder to watch the river herring (also called alewives) on their migration from Long Island Sound to their breeding waters in Linsley Pond (we hope they’ll be running!)
- Hear from experts about the amazing annual event of fish migration with BLT naturalist Tom Cleveland
- Learn about the Branford fish ladder and the return of the fish to our waters with fish biologist Steve Gephart
- Explore the history of the Supply Ponds – farming, ice houses and drinking water reservoir – from town historian emeritus Jane Bouley
- Look through binoculars with BLT naturalist Chris Woerner to watch the birds hunting the fish
- Talk with Jake Dittes from Save the Sound about human-caused challenges to fish migration and projects that are restoring fish passage around Long Island Sound
- Feel inspired by poetry written and read by local author and Professor Steve Mentz
- Hear from Courtney Cucinotta, an Indigenous person with Nipmuc heritage, about Native American relationships to water and to fish
- The parade features a one-mile around the pond guided by Richard Shanahan and volunteers from the BLT and the Branford Open Space Commission
The event is sponsored by the Branford Community Foundation/Ascend Bank.
Rain date Sunday, April 26. Any changes will be posted on the BLT Facebook page.
What’s a fish ladder you ask? A fish ladder is a structure that allows migrating fish passage over or around an obstacle on a river. Branford’s fish ladder was completed in 2006 thanks to a coalition of state and federal government agencies as well as private non-profits – over ten organizations gave time, money and expertise to get it done. In 2025, more alewives and blueback herring went through the Branford fish ladder than had been counted in the last 20 years – over 23,000!
Directions: From Route 1 take either Mill Plain Road to Short Rocks Road or Chestnut Street north to the main parking area. Additional designated parking areas are on Short Rocks Road and North Chestnut Street.
The Branford Supply Pond Fish Ladder was built to support the recovery of alewife and blueback herring—collectively known as river herring—whose annual spring migrations are a defining ecological event in southern Connecticut. Although they are fish, they are historically and ecologically “part of the soil” of Connecticut because they were used for centuries as a primary fertilizer for crops. They are also vital forage fish, feeding striped bass, bluefish, ospreys, herons, eagles, whales, sharks and seals. Just as importantly, by running up our creeks and rivers in the spring, they transport ocean nutrients into freshwater systems, enriching ponds and streams and strengthening food webs from plankton to top predators.
The fresh-water habitat of the Supply Ponds and the Queach Brook is a perfect place for river herring to lay their eggs and for the baby fish to grow up until they head back to the salt water of Long Island Sound. In 2025, more alewives and blueback herring went through the fish ladder than had been counted in the last 20 years – over 23,000!
The project of building a fish ladder over the Supply Ponds dam began in 2002. It took about four years to raise the money, design, and build the fish ladder with a coalition of state and federal government agencies as well as private non-profits – over ten organizations gave time, money and expertise to get it done.
For more information on the importance of the Fish Ladder, watch “Reconnected: Restoring the Rivers of Long Island Sound.”