PORT TOWNSEND — In the wake of numerous pullouts by boat owners, vendors and presenters, the Northwest Maritime Center has canceled the 2021 Wooden Boat Festival.
The festival, scheduled for Sept. 10-12, was to have attracted hundreds of boats and thousands of attendees to the maritime center at Point Hudson.
“Even though we had good protocols in place, and were being supported by our public health officials,” maritime center Executive Director Jake Beattie said, “we weren’t confident we could have a festival” that would live up to the historical standard.
“A significant amount” of people dropped out, he said, because they didn’t feel safe amid the changing COVID landscape.
Some said they would bring their boat or their booth to the festival but not staff them, Beattie said, so “we didn’t have confidence that we could deliver that community celebration with full spirit.”
Organizers decided to cancel the 45th annual festival now, two weeks before the event, because “we don’t know what’s coming down the pike,” Beattie said.
In a letter sent Friday to the Wooden Boat Festival email list, the Northwest Maritime Center and Wooden Boat Festival team acknowledged that the cancellation is “a big shift since last week’s announcement of our advanced safety protocols, but this is a rapidly shifting world, and we’ve decided canceling is the only responsible way forward.”
Organizers will contact those who have purchased tickets or paid to participate soon to process refunds, the letter noted.
“We stand by the ‘vaccinated/negative-test-only’ protocols we established, which received widespread support, and trust the guidance of public health officials who validated this approach.
“We are also incredibly proud of the staff and volunteers who performed absolute heroics to establish and operationalize these protocols in short order.”
The festival’s Blazer Party and Lifetime Achievement Awards will be rescheduled for some time in the future. Meantime, the organizers wrote, they “extend a heartfelt thank you to all the volunteers, presenters, vendors, boaters, and sponsors who work with us to make Wooden Boat Festival one of Port Townsend’s most beloved events.”
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
