Forget the Solstice. The official start of summer — in New London, anyway — has become the annual Whalie Awards ceremony. A celebration of the region's lushly fertile local music scene, the sixth annual Whalies took place Saturday night in the city's Hygienic Art Park.

As evidenced by the stylistic variety of awards and a diverse full-house of nominees, families, friends and fans, the event has become something far bigger than its original construct — which was a fun, partially tongue-in-cheek exercise in musical camaraderie and self-congratulations.

Just before the show started, Vince Tuckwood, a singer-songwriter nominated in several categories, took a look around the park.

"The Whalies are good for a lot of reasons, but in the biggest context, it's the only night of the year you see everyone together — black, white, brown — and we're all celebrating art and music as a reflection of the community. How great is that and what can we learn from that?"

New London Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio echoed the thoughts. "This event is like a microcosm of the city's diversity and potential. There are so many great musical styles celebrated here — and it's all representative of the many facets of New London."

The evening started at 6 p.m. with a casual red carpet processional as artists filed in dressed in the sort of sartorial free-for-all one would hope for from a music awards ceremony.

This included GQ style suits and gowns, lots of mild eccentricity, and outfits heavily rooted in the rock tradition of everyone from Slade to Lemmy.

First time nominees Brazen Youth, comprising two 17-year-olds, Nick Lussier and Charlie Dahlkie, weren't quite sure what to wear. At first, they showed up looking as though they'd just mowed the yard.

"Our shirts looked like Goodwill and we had grease stains on our shorts," Lussier said. "Thankfully, someone said, 'You guys really ought to go change.' So we did."

The ceremony proper kicked off shortly after 7 p.m. with a rendition of John Legend's "Glory" by multi-nominated rapper Franc Grams with participants of the New London Youth Talent Show. Grams, a city native, coordinates that annual talent show, and their performance clearly moved the crowd.

Host Sean Murray then took the stage. A co-founder of the Whalies, Murray welcomed the audience by observing what a productive year it had been for the scene.

He said, "I'd like to particularly thank the artists for making me listen to 400 tracks of local music." Murray then joked, "That's a good thing but I don't know if I can book any more local shows for the rest of the year."

Though the Whalies extended beyond print deadline, 40 trophies, in People's Choice and Critics' Choice categories, were scheduled to be handed out to winners from among more than 260 nominated artists and music business professionals.

Also scheduled to perform were Ravens in the Woods, The Friendly Ghost, The Rivergods, Brazen Youth, Grams and WolfGhost, and Chumzilla, NME the Illest and The Hempsteadys together in a show-closing mash-up.

As the beer and wine concessions did brisk business, the sustained and collective mood was warm, celebratory and even a bit goofy — but the underlying sense of community spirit and mutual admiration was tangible.

This was particularly evident during a poignant early moment when Hugh Birdsall accepted the Best Folk/Bluegrass award on behalf of his band Dogbite — who earlier this year lost bassist Jim Fitzgerald to cancer.

"In any case, it's hard to keep a band together," Birdsall said. "But you do it because to play music in front of people is the best thing in the world. The worst thing in the world, though, is when a band member dies. So what happens is that you end up doing the best thing in the world to get over the worst thing in the world. This award is for Jim."

r.koster@theyday.com

Twitter: @rickkoster