Early morning on Saturday, the 3rd of March, Randy and I left our home base in New York and went on a 2.5 hour journey to the neighboring state of Connecticut to attend the 11th Annual New England Frag Farmer’s Market. The event, organized by the E.O. Smith Coral Project and hosted, as in previous years, in the Edwin O. Smith High School in Storrs, has grown to be one of the largest frag swaps in this part of the country, with over a thousand attendees and more than 60 sellers expected to attend this year. It was my first time attending NEFFM and I was in for a big surprise.

Spoiler alert: I had a blast!

The New England Frag Farmer’s Market is such a unique show. Start with a fantastic venue, where individual frag “farmers” and businesses alike set up their tables in the hallways and classrooms of the school (I had such a fun time photographing subjects completely unrelated to reefing while classroom hopping) and mix in a very family friendly atmosphere – it’s the perfect recipe for a frag swap.

We didn’t manage to bump into Jon Swanson, the man behind the E.O Smith Coral Project and the organizer of NEFFM, to say hi, but we met some old friends, made new ones, and even had a chance to attend a great talk by MetroKat. Plus, we left with three coolers full of saltwater animals!

One of the classrooms where vendors sell their livestock at the event.

Students from William H. Hall High School in West Hartford presenting their Hall High Coral Project coral bank and fundraising for their frag tanks

Walking down the hallway and exploring various classrooms transformed into tiny coral marketplaces was such an entertaining experience. I enjoyed the heck out of the event and can’t wait to come back next year! Meanwhile, take a look at some of the pictures I snapped at this year’s New England Frag Farmer’s Market. I also created a gallery full of photos from the event, you can access it here: https://marcinsmokphotography.pixieset.com/newenglandfragfarmersmarket2018/

Thanks again for the great event, and see you all next year!

Metrokat’s amazing talk at NEFFM

Coral close-ups I managed to snap