Riding the Wave to the 50 Year Celebration!

When you are voted the Best South Puget Sound Event of 2022, you know you have created something that is special. Held every Labor Day weekend for the last 50 years, Olympia Harbor Days Festival is a free family-friendly event that showcases many of the vintage tugboats of the Puget Sound with a walk-aboard show at the docks and tugboat races in the bay.

According to Carol Riley, the Executive Director and producer of Olympia Harbor Days, “Our festival is a combination of all kinds of live events . . . it’s more than a street fair, and it’s not a music festival, or even just a food event.”

Possibly the last and only event in the world that centers around tugboat racing, the original story of why the races began back in the mid-70’s actually dates back to the early 1900’s when tugboat skippers would race to be the first to a tall ship as it entered the Olympia Harbor. The first one there “won” the job of escorting the tall ship through the troublesome bay to get to the port and unload.

Many decades later, the local seamen of Olympia wanted to celebrate this highly competitive process and the tugboat races were created and celebrated at the Harbor Days Festival. Today, 50 years after the first races were held, the Harbor Day races only feature vintage tugboats and they play homage to an industry that Olympia was built around.

The location at Percival Landing, a well-known Pacific Northwest maritime landmark, is the southernmost tip of Puget Sound and a destination for many who travel by boat.

On land, festival attendees will enjoy great food, talented local musicians on three stages, fantastic artisans, plus nautical and marine-themed attractions, hands-on activities, local tribal history, and the working waterfront with Port of Olympia tours. All in all, there are over 300 things to do and see during the three days.

“My hope is a family goes to the festival and talks about the experience for years to come because live events make for really great memories,” said Riley.

v LYNN CASTLE

For Additional Information

Olympia Harbor Days harbordays.com