PORT ANGELES — A maritime festival will be held in Port Angeles from June 9-10, and the tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain will be part of the celebration.
The inaugural Port Angeles Maritime Festival will highlight the city’s maritime heritage and future with multiple events planned at several waterfront locations, organizers said.
The two-day event, which will replace the two-year-old Waterfront Day, is being organized by the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce, Port of Port Angeles, Port Angeles Yacht Club and North Olympic History Center — formerly the Clallam County Historical Society.
A variety of local businesses and organizations will participate.
“It’s an exciting thing to build a festival like this,” chamber Executive Director Marc Abshire said Thursday.
“It’s probably a long time coming for Port Angeles.”
Planned events include tours of the tall ships and the U.S. Coast Guard museum tugboat Comanche, which was active during World War II.
The festival will be centered at the Port Angeles City Pier and The Landing mall June 9.
On June 10, the focus will shift to the Port Angeles Boat Haven and other facilities on the western waterfront.
“We felt that it needed to be more than just a day,” Abshire said. “There’s enough there.”
Activities at City Pier and The Landing mall will include maritime history displays, a U.S. Navy band and other live music, a nautical book and map sale, food vendors, Mike the inflatable orca and bicycle and kayak rentals.
Black Ball Ferry Line, which operates the MV Coho, will have a display in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Black Ball flag, Abshire said.
The Puget Sound Pilots will be showcased at the maritime festival.
On Sunday, June 10, festival attendees can tour the Port of Port Angeles marine terminal, Westport Yachts and Platypus Marine, port spokeswoman Holly Hairell said.
The port-led activities will include a children’s scavenger hunt and tours of the tall ships, Comanche, Border Patrol and Clallam County Sheriff’s Office vessels.
“The Port Angeles Yacht Club will have some of their boats open as well,” Hairell said.
The Coast Guard Auxiliary will conduct vessel inspections June 10 at the Boat Haven. Boaters can sign up for the inspections June 9 at City Pier, Abshire said.
A complete schedule and list of events is still being developed.
“We are still putting this together,” Abshire said. “We may actually be making the decisions the week before in terms of where things are going to be and that kind of thing.”
The tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain will be in Port Angeles for vessel tours from June 8-10, according to Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, an Aberdeen-based nonprofit that operates the replica vessels.
Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain have not docked in Port Angeles since the city removed the old mooring floats at City Pier in 2012.
The city’s new mooring floats will be dedicated at the Maritime Festival.
The Lady Washington is a 29-year-old replica of the first American vessel to make landfall on the west coast of North America in 1788.
The Lady Washington is scheduled to be in Port Townsend from April 28 to May 7.
Both ships will be in Port Ludlow from May 9 to May 14, according to Historical Seaport.
The Lady Washington is scheduled to sail from Port Angeles to Port Townsend after the maritime festival June 11.
For information on the tall ships, click on www.historicalseaport.org.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
