PORT TOWNSEND — The 36th annual Wooden Boat Festival, which begins today, is one of the busiest weekends of the year, drawing an estimated 30,000 visitors to town to pay tribute to these venerable vessels.
Some 209 wooden boats are scheduled to pull into the Port Hudson Marina today while dozens of other pleasure boaters float around Port Townsend Bay to soak up some of the action.
The festival will run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets, passes
General admission tickets for nonmembers of the Northwest Maritime Center are $15 for a single day and $30 for the entire festival. Seniors, students and military pay $10 for one day or $20 for all days.
Tickets can be purchased at the main gate at the Northwest Maritime Center beginning at 8:30 a.m. today.
Tickets provide access to all festival boats, all daytime presentations and demonstrations, exhibitors, music performance, children’s activities and food vendors.
Proceeds support the Wooden Boat Foundation.
While the festival’s seminars and forums are geared toward the boating professional, there are plenty of events to interest the casual boater or people who just like the water.
Two special shanty song circles will take place during the festival at 8 p.m. today and Saturday in the Marina Room at the Maritime Center.
In a circle, one person starts a shanty and everyone sings along, then the next person starts the process all over again.
The songs are taken from the Sing Shanties & Songs About the Sea, which celebrates the songs that sailors sing to break the monotony at sea and provide a structure to their mundane tasks.
The song book was published in honor of Stephen Lewis, a shanty enthusiast who has collected hundreds of songs from throughout maritime history.
Lewis died in 2011 of stomach cancer and performed a full evening of shanties at the Upstage Bistro shortly before his death.
In January, a group of Lewis’ friends began a monthly sing-along that has grown in size.
More than 100 song lyrics are contained in the book, which will be on sale at the song circles for $11.95 plus tax.
Anyone who wants a copy of the book and cannot attend the festival can visit www.singshanties.blogspot.com for information.
The shanty circles are free and open to the public with festival admission.
Documentary
Also free with festival admission is the screening of “Throwbacks,” a locally produced documentary about the golden era of Northwest boats.
The screening will be at 7:30 p.m. today in the Maritime Room at the Maritime Center.
Discovery Bay resident John Sabella, who wrote and produced the film, said on his website, www.johnsabella.com: “[The movie] profiles the great naval architects of Seattle’s early years and the famous boat yards and shipwrights who applied world-renowned craftsmanship to their nautical visions.
“It follows the classic boats and yachts through the decades, the rowdy 1920s when every man dreamed of owning a boat, the grim Depression years when Hollywood wealth was all that sustained Seattle boatyards, the War-era when even the most lavish pleasure craft were pressed into hard military service, the decades of neglect when signature vessels languished in obscurity and the contemporary fascination with the restoration of these stylish relics of the bygone age.”
“The designers and builders of the Pacific Northwest didn’t focus entirely on the business of transportation,” Sabella said.
“Early on, they began crafting some of the world’s most distinguished pleasure boats,” he added.
“The pre-World War II era ranked as nothing less than a golden age of boat building in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.”
Technical presentations
Along with the boats, technical presentations about boating innovations are scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. today and Saturday and from 9:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Sunday.
About 100 food and craft vendors will be on site.
Boat races are set today, Saturday and Sunday.
A sampling of special events are:
■ The 26 & Under Sail Race — which is open to all wooden boats 26 feet long or less — will be from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. today in Port Townsend Bay.
■ In the NW Schooner Cup, scheduled from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, schooners race around buoys and return to the marina.
■ A Memorial Bell Toll, which continues a tradition of honoring mariners who have “passed over the bar” during the past year, begins at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Compass Rose.
The service is nondenominational, and the Sea Scout Troop will assist with the ceremony.
■ The Rowing Regatta will be from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday in Port Townsend Bay.
■ The inaugural T-37 Model Boat Races will be at 10 a.m. Sunday in the harbor.
■ The Captain Pirate’s Treasure Hunt will begin at high noon Sunday at the Cupola House.
Children in pirate costumes will get in a longboat and head for Center Dock, where they will hunt for buried treasure.
■ “Captain Cloud’s Latest Adventure,” a children’s play, will be performed at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday and at 1 p.m. Sunday at the North Star Stage.
■ Up to 300 boats are expected to participate in the Festival Sail-by on Sunday.
The boats will begin to leave Port Hudson at 3 p.m. for the grand parade circling Port Townsend Bay, which will be in full swing by 3:30 p.m.
■ A wine- and cider-tasting featuring products from local wineries takes place on all three days from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Cotton Building, 607 Water St.
Musical entertainment
A full program of mostly local entertainers takes place on the main stage during the festival.
Today, the performers include David Sheehan, 1 p.m.; Steve Grandinetti, 2 p.m.; Band Lab, 3 p.m.; The Whateverly Brothers, 4 p.m.; Impulse, 5 p.m.; Susan Welch & Billy Forrester, 6:15 p.m.; and The Delta Rays, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday’s schedule includes The Whateverly Brothers, 1 p.m.; Tom Lewis, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.; Whozyamama, 3 p.m.; Pies on the Run, 5 p.m.; The Low Ones, 6 p.m.; and the Better Half, 7:15 p.m.
On Sunday, the program includes Bertram Levy and Joe Euro, 11 a.m.; Mike and Val James with guests Pete Toyne and Tom Lewis, 12 p.m.; Howly Slim & Da Boyz, 1 p.m.; Tugboat Bromberg, 2 p.m.; and Shady Grove, 3 p.m.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
