New London — If Captain Ahab could go that nuts over one whale, the poor guy would have totally freaked Saturday in New London's Crocker House Ballroom.

The occasion was the 7th annual Whalie Awards ceremony recognizing achievements in the local and regional music scene — and more than 40 Whalie trophies were handed out in both Critic's Choice and People's Choice categories.

Shortly after 6 p.m., nominees and music fans slowly began to enter the ballroom as part of an opening red carpet processional.

The CBYD trio — a nominated act that eventually won in the Best Jazz category — entertained as the large space filled up.

Folks, dressed in a variety of finery and the sort of eccentric apparel expected from a music celebration, mingled and sipped wine and beer and soft drinks.

"The voting turnout this year was great — better than ever before," said Sean Murray, co-founder, co-producer and host of the Whalies.

"Every year, we get anxious. What if nothing happens and we have to shorten the awards? And every year we end up being more amazed and how crazy creative New London artists are," he said. 

"It always ends up that we can't begin to get to everybody at these awards," he added. "We could have two Whalies shows and I'm not sure that would be enough."

Saturday marked the first time the Whalies took place in a location other than the Hygienic Art Park.

Rich Martin, co-producer/founder of the event, is former managing director of the Hygienic and parted ways with that organization late last year.

"We thought it would be fun to try a new venue," Martin said. "We'd always thought about the Crocker House because of outdoor weather concerns, so it was on our radar. It's a great room and, hey, we had hail and rain earlier. It worked out, weather-wise, but this is a great turnout."

Ramblin' Dan Stevens, who was nominated and eventually won in the Best Country/Blues Act in the People's Choice Awards category, was attending his first Whalies ceremony.

"I'm always happy to be near live music," Stevens said, "and I'm particularly proud to be part of this with the area's best musicians. I travel so much that I don't get to see a lot of these artists, so this is a great night."

It was also the first Whalies experience for John Speziale, the songwriter/vocalist/guitarist in Sweet Mercy!, which won the Best Roots Rock Act trophy.

"This is kind of fun," he said, looking around the venue. "It's exciting to be part of it. We've had a pretty good year and this is one of the better things to happen to us."

Because of the general camaraderie in the room, Murray was about a half-hour late, hitting the stage about 7:30 p.m. and the presentation of the trophies commenced.

But once the actual presentations got underway, the pace sped up.

The first award went to Nick Eota in the Breakthrough Artist category.

He smilingly accepted his trophy and succinctly said, "I'm grateful, I put in the work. I'll continue to put in the work. I promise."

Nick Johns of the Marvelous Liars said he wasn't sure how to even process the whole evening.

His band was nominated in several categories — see below for a complete list of winners — and they also performed of the course of the presentation along with Straight to VHS, The Carleans, The Hoolios, Franc Grams, Louie Rock & Friends and others.

"It's pretty neat," Johns said. "We actually played the first Whalies show six years ago, so it's good to perform here again."

When Marvelous Liars won an early trophy for Best Rock Song, Johns said, "We'd like to thank all the persons over the years who made New London a destination for arts and music."

Deadline prohibited The Day from staying for the entire show, but attendees — very representational of the wide variety of musical styles flourishing in the region — clearly were having an enjoyable time.

"This is pretty special," said Tim Donnel of Straight to VHS, the trio that won for Best Indie/Garage Act.

The band played a new song and then bolted to Providence to play a gig.

"We wanted to be here for this. We wish we could stay but it's also cool that we're going from here to another gig," Donnel said. "That's something everyone here can appreciate."

r.koster@theday.com