NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, July 25.
PORT LUDLOW — Once a small affair with a couple of bands and a crafts show, the annual celebration of Port Ludlow has grown into a three-day extravaganza with 66 vendors, pony rides, a lot of local music and a fireworks show.
The gala now known as the Festival by the Bay, which begins today, has grown ever since it became a nonprofit, said Linda Karp, secretary for the Port Ludlow Festival Association.
“It’s grown now to where it’s huge,” she said.
“It’s all over the area around the marina.”
Karp expects between 3,000 and 4,000 people to come to the festival. Most activities will be at or around the Port Ludlow Yacht Club, 121 Marina View Drive.
(See schedule, at right.)
An entry badge is $7 at the gate and is good for all three days of the festival through Sunday. Children younger than 12 will be admitted free of charge.
Concert, fireworks
The highlight of the Festival by the Bay will be a Saturday night concert by Fat Chance from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., preceded by Amber Waves from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Katelyn Hart from 7:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. — capped with a fireworks show lighting up the summer sky over the water starting at about 10 p.m.
Before and after, attractions will range from a children’s festival with the Pied Piper Bubble Lady; face painting and other activities; specialty vehicles exhibited by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Port Ludlow Fire and Rescue and the U.S. Marine Corps; a car show; an art show; a beer and wine garden; and a food court featuring crepes, Thai food, barbecue, kettle corn and frozen yogurt.
New this year will be pony rides for children.
A full fair of vendors from all over the region will offer crafts — including lots of beach glass items — and food.
The only festival events that will cost more than the gate admission will be today’s golf tournament and the Port Ludlow Fire and Rescue Fireman’s Breakfast from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. today at the Beach Club.
The breakfast is $7 a plate.
Everything else — except for food and vendors’ goods, of course — is covered in the admission price.
Three days of music
That includes three full days of live music.
In addition to the Saturday night concerts, Buck Ellard will perform from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. today at the food court stage.
Also performing will be the Choral Belles, Dance Within, solo bassist Kimberly Lynn, Ranger and the Re-Arrangers, the Ian McFeron Band, harpist Amanda Grzadzielewski, Porto Alegre, the Uruma taiko drummers and the Delta Rays Band.
“We have so much music going on, we have things that you would pay $15 or $20 for otherwise,” Karp said.
Art show and sale
More than 20 members of the Port Ludlow Artists’ League will participate in a three-day Art Show & Sale at the marina during the festival.
Art show hours are from noon to 6 p.m. today, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Artwork on display and available for purchase will include various styles of oil, acrylic and watercolor paintings; mixed media; drawings; photography; prints; cards; jewelry; baskets; pottery; woodworking; florals; and fiber arts.
In conjunction with the festival at the marina will be a golf tournament at Port Ludlow Golf Club, 751 Highland Drive, today.
The entry fee for club members is $35, and $75 for nonmembers.
Entry includes a smorgasbord lunch one hour before the tournament begins, range balls, prizes for on-course contests and an admission badge for all events in the three-day festival.
Two purposes
The festival has two purposes: “to make people aware of Port Ludlow and to give back to Port Ludlow,” Karp said.
The first festival, called Ludlow Days, was somber.
Held in September 2001, the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., turned what was to be a celebration into a time of mourning, Karp recalled.
Hundreds turned out for a candlelight procession to Burner Point to remember those who had died in the attacks, she said.
The festival began as an annual event sponsored by the Port Ludlow Village Council to benefit the community.
Its name changed to Funfest after 2005, and in 2010, the subcommittee board that had organized the festival separated from the council, forming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit called the Port Ludlow Festival Association and changing the celebration’s name to Festival by the Bay.
Beneficiaries
The group wanted to become a nonprofit group “so that we could share this money” and picked two beneficiaries, Olympic Community Action Programs and Chimacum schools,” to receive the money in 2011.
“Ever since then, we have given to those beneficiaries ,” Karp said.
In 2013, the festival donated $3,500 to each.
“The schools have bought science equipment and all kinds of things they couldn’t afford otherwise,” Karp said, adding that OlyCAP always has a good use for money to help people.
“We’ve been able to give them more money each year since we began doing this,” she said.
For more information about the Festival by the Bay, visit www.plfest.org.
For more information about the Port Ludlow Artists’ League, visit www.portludlowart.org.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
