PORT TOWNSEND — The Wooden Boat Festival begins Friday, but the “Bar Harbor” opens tonight with live entertainment for all ages.
Bar Harbor is next to the Cupola at Point Hudson, between Hudson and Jackson streets, and will host a live music stage, dancing and, for those older than 21, a bar.
It opens at 5 tonight and runs until midnight. After that it will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday of the festival and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, said Anika Colvin, Northwest Maritime Center communications director.
Bar Harbor is free to enter tonight and is open to the public after 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Colvin said.
Tickets to the three-day Wooden Boat Festival at the maritime center at 431 Water St. are $20 for adults for a single day or $40 for a three-day pass. Tickets for seniors 65 and older, active military members and students ages 13 to 18 are $15, or $30 for the three-day pass. Children 12 and younger get in for free.
The Eagle Mountain String Band will open the the Main Stage at Bar Harbor at 5:30 tonight, followed by the Carribe Steel Band at 6:45 p.m. Lowire at 8:30 p.m. will close out the show.
The stage and tent is open to all; only the bar area will be specifically for adults 21 and older, Colvin said.
“You’ve got people dancing of all ages,” Colvin said. “I would say that the festival always feels like it’s a big huge close-to-summer party for the community and especially in the maritime community.”
The beer, wine and cider that will be for sale at the Bar Harbor are from local breweries, with the beer from Port Townsend Brewing, wine from Port Townsend Vineyard and cider from Finnriver Farm and Cider.
The Wooden Boat Festival, sponsored by the Northwest Maritime Center, is put on with the help of more than 700 volunteer shifts (volunteers can work multiple shifts) and Colvin said she is grateful for their help.
“We could not do the festival without the volunteers,” Colvin said. “They’re amazing.”
Also tonight four people will be given lifetime achievement awards — one posthumously — at 5:30 p.m. at the maritime center meeting room.
The award ceremony is open to the public.
George Buehler will be honored posthumously for boatbuilding and design, a process he began in the 1970s.
Carl Chamberlain, who has had projects built by the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, will be honored for yacht design and construction.
Jim “Kiwi” Ferris, who started the Edensaw Woods company with the late Charlie Moore in Port Townsend more than 30 years ago, has worked to supply boatbuilders and others the wood from which they’re built. He will be honored for community spirit and culture.
Brion Toss, a master rigger and author, will be inducted into the Maritime Hall of Fame. His best-known work, “The Complete Riggers Apprentice,” was first published in 1984.
For a full list of events, and to purchase tickets, see woodenboat.org.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5 or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
The Bar Harbor tent was erected for the Wooden Boat Festival on Wednesday afternoon. Bar Harbor opens at 5 tonight. (Zach Jablonski/Peninsula Daily News)
