New London - While local organizations draw people into Riverside Park this weekend with music, games, nature walks and tours of the neighborhood, the Coast Guard Academy is opening one of its gates and inviting visitors onto its campus.

In conjunction with the Down by the Riverside Festival, running from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today and Sunday at the city-owned park off Crystal Avenue, the academy's Crowne Park gate, which abuts Riverside Park, will be open. Cadets will be on hand to give tours and answer questions about the military university.

Coast Guard students are also playing a football game and men's soccer at noon, and women's soccer at 3 p.m. All games are free and open to the public.

The Coast Guard Academy has offered to buy about 9.5 acres of Riverside Park for $2.9 million so it can expand its campus. The council approved the sale last year, and on Nov. 8, residents will have an opportunity to approve the sale or reject it.

"We are encouraging people to come in and see us,'' said David M. Santos, communications director at the academy. "We're continuing to look for opportunities to talk to folks, and this weekend we want to share information and show our plans on our expansion."

The academy has tentative plans to build a professional development/shipboard simulator center, a diversity/cultural center and athletic fields on the land if the sale is approved.

The city would be left with about 9 acres, which includes the waterfront and a rim of land around the Coast Guard property.

New London Landmarks, which is opposed to the sale, will lead walking tours today and Sunday though the East New London neighborhood.

The cost is $15 for one or both walks.

The first tour starts at 1 p.m. on Grove Street in front of Winthrop School and will explore Bolles and Rosemary streets and Crystal Avenue, and will end at Riverside Park. The second walking tour begins at 3 p.m. at the entrance to the park at the corner of Adelaide Street and Crystal Avenue.

Inside the park, Glenn Dreyer, director of the Connecticut College Arboretum, will lead nature walks at 2 p.m.

Also, artists and photographers are invited to an en plein air weekend to paint and photograph the park and the neighborhood. The work will be shown to the public at The Future of Riverside Park Forum Oct. 13 at the Pilot House at Ocean Beach Park.

Other organizations are planning music, games and other activities to highlight the park and encourage residents to maintain and keep it as open space.

Friends of Riverside Park and the Tsetse Gallery also will provide music, children's games, food, crafts and art vendors.

k.edgecomb@theday.com