PORT TOWNSEND — The MV Kennewick car ferry will be inaugurated with speeches, musical performances and a public tour Friday.
The speeches will begin at 11 a.m. at the Port Townsend ferry dock and are expected to continue for 30 minutes.
After the speeches, the $60 million vessel, which will be moored in the terminal’s second slip, will be open to the public for informal, self-guided tours until 1 p.m.
But the ferry will not enter service for a few more weeks.
During Friday’s public tour, the Wild Rose Chorale and the Airstream Travellers will perform on the ferry.
The Kennewick will be the third state vessel to be inaugurated in little more than a year — the three being the first state ferries built in more than a decade.
All three new 64-car ferries — beginning with the Chetzemoka, then the Salish — began service on the Port Townsend-Coupeville route.
“We are grateful to get a third new boat,” said Port Townsend Director of Marketing Christina Pivarnik.
“Having regular, reliable ferry service is essential for our downtown businesses.”
Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, the chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee who — along with Rep. Judy Clibborn, the chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee — fought for two-boat service on the route, will not be present at Friday’s celebration because she had scheduled a town meeting on that date.
“I’d like to attend, but I had already planned a meeting and felt it was more important to listen to the people in my district than to attend the celebration,” said the Democrat from Camano Island.
“I’m excited to have all three boats,” she added.
“It means that we will have reliable service between Port Townsend and Coupeville.”
Clibborn, a Democrat from Mercer Island, is expected to attend along with Rep Barbara Bailey (R-Oak Harbor).
Assistant Transportation Secretary David Moseley, the state ferries system’s chief executive officer, will be the master of ceremonies.
Although the Kennewick will be dedicated Friday, it won’t begin work on the Port Townsend-Coupeville route until later this month, after the crew has finished training, said ferry spokesperson Susan Harris Huether, who could provide no specific date on Tuesday.
Once on the route, the Kennewick will replace the Salish, continuing the present one-boat service while the Salish is used as a backup vessel throughout the state ferries system through the winter and spring.
In May, the Salish will join the Kennewick to provide two-boat service through the summer months.
The Kennewick is the third new vessel in the Kwa-di Tabil class of ferries, which were built for the state by Vigor Shipyards — formerly Todd Pacific — for $213.2 million.
The first was the Chetzemoka, which went into service in November 2010 in a celebration that included Gov. Chris Gregoire and U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, how a candidate for governor.
The Salish began service in July, with a celebration that featured native American dances on the car deck.
For the Kennewick, a delegation from that city in the southeastern part of the state will come to Port Townsend for the celebration.
“It’s very cool that a bus load of people are coming in from Kennewick for the occasion,” Pivarnik said.
“With this, they are creating a bridge between eastern Washington and the Salish Sea.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
