Waterfront Festival 2016

Waterfront Festival June 4 and 5, 2016

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 • Anacortes American

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Waterfront Festival 2016

Welcome to our waterfront

very part of the waterfront will be celebrated and enjoyed at the 27th annual Anacortes Waterfront Festival Saturday and Sunday June 4 and 5 at Cap Sante Marina, according to Chamber of Commerce staff member Laura Hartner.

“We want to help the community connect to our gorgeous waterfront,” said Hartner, who is directing the festival.

Each year, about 10,000 people visit the festival over the course of two days.

Many families come back year after year, Hartner said.

“It is a tradition to so many people,” she said. “We want to honor all they are used to experiencing but always add something new to excite them.”

The chamber-organized event will feature entertain-

ment, in-water demonstrations, the chance to both build and ride boats and plenty of fun and educational activities for kids.

The festival is highlighting the maritime history of Anacortes, Hartner said.

“There are all kinds of things to do on the waterfront,” she said.

In coming years, she hopes to increase the in-water demonstrations and get commercial fishermen more involved. She would also like to bring in more educational aspects.

This year, entertainment will be extended each day to keep people entertained longer. On Saturday, the Chris Eger Band will start at about 5:45 p.m. (after the Quick and Dirty Boat Demonstration) and play for more than an hour, giving people a chance to have dinner and

listen to music will they wait for the plaza dance to start at 7 p.m., Hartner said.

The Vela Luka Croatian Dance Ensemble will perform at 1 p.m. Sunday. Hartner said she’s excited to have the Croatian group perform at the festival again. The Anacortes-based group has a long maritime history in town, and it performs all over the world.

Also Sunday, Rabbit Wilde will take the stage at 3:45 p.m. to help close out the festival.

Other festival performers include the Shifty Sailors, Anacortes School District students, and Kimball and the Fugitives, and Scoreman Bonesnake.

This year, there will also be new activities for kids. An activity passport will encourage kids to travel the festival to earn a prize (like a trip to see the

Shannon Point Marine Center interactive sealife tanks), plus the Anacortes Arts Festival will have a booth with the chance to make art projects, and the Channel of Discovery will offer some educational insight into the history of city’s waterfront.

Included in the channel will be projects and activities from the Coastal Volunteer Partnership at Padilla Bay, Pacific Mammal Research, Pacific Biodiversity Institute, North Puget Sound Dragon Boat Club, Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehab Center and the City of Anacortes.

The Fidalgo Island Rotary Club will again operate its boatbuilding booth, open to kids of all ages. Young people can stop by and create the boat of their dreams and launch it in the water right away. The booth will be open Saturday and Sunday.

The carnival area will include a power bungee jump, a paintball target booth, a Zorb ball court and more.

Other highlights: • The Anacortes Museum Maritime Heritage Center will host a reception Saturday night for its exhibit on the history of the Anacortes waterfront.

• A plaza dance Saturday night will pay homage to the plaza dances held for visiting fishermen in the 1930s.

• Free boat rides will be provided both days by the Anacortes Yacht Club.

• A car show from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days will feature Corvettes and other custom cars.

• Paddleboard demonstrations will be noon to 3 p.m. both days between D and E docks.

• An expanded food court area will have new offerings.

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Waterfront Festival 2016

Anacortes American • Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Milk Carton Derby is making a return A

fter a year off, the teenagers in Anacortes are back to putting together recyclables to stay afloat.

The annual Milk Carton Derby is back this year at the Waterfront Festival. The derby race will begin at 3:15 p.m.

Sunday, June 5.

Fe s t i v a l d i r e c t o r Laura Hartner, with the Anacortes Chamber of Commerce, said a committee was formed this year to plan the event.

The Boys & Girls Club is one of the teams that registered to have a boat. Several club members will help build it, and then two will captain it across the water.

The derby challenges contestants younger than 18 to make a boat using only half-gallon milk and juice cartons. A minimum of 50 cartons is required, but all flotation must rely completely on the cartons. The hull structures can be built from wood, plastic or steel. And the boats must be human-powered.

Boats can be built for speed or style. Participants can enter the derby competition, the creativity competition or both.

Th e m o s t c r e a t i v e award is based on creativity, originality, workmanship and the total number of cartons. The derby award is based on the first crew to complete the course in their vessel.

Information: anacortes.org/waterfrontfestival.

Rotary boatbuilding booth O

ne of the biggest draws at the Waterfront Festival each year for children, parents and grandparents is the Fidalgo Island Rotary Club boatbuilding area.

Kids stand in line to pick up a hull, a mast and a sail in the color of their choice. They grab a hammer and some nails or glue, put it together and add various decorations to personalize their boat. A pool awaits nearby offering a chance to make sure the vessels float before taking them home.

Each year, more than 1,000 kids stop by the booth and take up tools, along with their helpers.

The club took the boatbuilding over from the Anacortes Yacht Club several years ago, Rotary member Tricia Sharp said.

Wood for the boats is donated

by Sierra Pacific Industries. The Anacortes High School wood shop lends a facility to help

shape the wood into hulls, and Sebo’s Hardware donates supplies for accessories and decorations. The club’s funds cover the rest of the costs.

“We do it for the look on people’s faces,” Sharp said. “They build them with their grandparents or parents, and that experience lasts.”

For many, building those boats has become an annual tradition.

Sharp said grandparents come in sometimes and build a boat and then ship it off to their grandchild who is away at college, so they can relive memories.

Club President Blair Estenson said he recently found even more boats than he thought he had from when his kids were small and would return each year to the Waterfront Festival to build a new one.

“Some people have entire fleets in their houses,” Sharp said.

Editor and General Manager Colette Weeks: cweeks@goanacortes.com Editor Briana Alzola Layout/Design Kimberly Jacobson Staff Writer Briana Alzola Advertising Director Duby Petit Sales & Community Relations Director Deb Davis Bundy: dbundy@skagitpublishing.com Advertising Consultants Beverly Cloer, Tina Pullar, Kathy Schultz, Katie Sundermeyer, John Williams and Rachel Yousling. ©2016 Skagit Publishing — A supplement to the Anacortes American All rights reserved

Wednesday, May 25, 2016 • Anacortes American

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Waterfront Festival 2016

Quick & Dirty boats hit the water

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ach year, teams of three representing businesses and organizations across the Skagit Valley roll up their sleeves, assemble a limited pile of materials and race to create a boat in six hours.

And try to make sure it floats.

The annual Quick and Dirty Boat Building competition Saturday at the Waterfront Festival pits teams against each other to see who can create the best-looking, original craft that can also carry the team across the finish line.

Teams are provided with four sheets of plywood, six two-byfours, 100 screws, two tubes of caulk and 50 tie wraps. A mystery material will be given to each team just before the competition.

The team can also spend $20.16 on materials of their own to use on the boat, not including paint used to decorate the boats (which is encouraged).

Teams set up between 8 and 9 p.m. and then build the boats from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the southwest parking lot of the Harbor-

master building at Cap Sante Marina.

At 5 p.m., the teams will parade their boats through the festival grounds. The competition starts about 5:15 p.m.

Boats are judged based on several categories, including best looking, best use of material, originality, best use of the mystery material, seaworthiness, people’s choice, and of course, best bribe to the judges.

The highest scoring team will receive the grand prize trophy, which they keep until next year’s Quick and Dirty competition.

All proceeds go to the Anacortes Small Boat Center.

The center is a nonprofit organization focused on promoting safe and meaningful access to the waterways of Fidalgo Island. It wants to bring together different groups to help facilitate the launching and use of small boats, in addition to celebrating the island’s maritime history.

For more information on the center, visit www.anacortessmallboatcenter.com.

Come early for free boat rides A

t the Waterfront Festival this year, some people will get a chance to get all aboard and out on the water, but seats are limited and fill up fast.

The Anacortes Yacht Club offers free power boat and sailboat rides from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

The annual rides have been popular through the years, and the group gave out more than 600 rides last year.

Each year, the spots fill up quickly, and the yacht club encourages people to stop by early to sign up and then come back for their ride. Sign up at the gazebo next to the main Cap Sante Marina office.

Each ride lasts about 45 minutes. Life jackets will be provided, and participants are encouraged to dress for the weather. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Anacortes Yacht Club members volunteer to provide their boats and expertise each year.

Formed July 23, 1891, it is the secondoldest continuously functioning yacht club in Washington state.

For more information on the club, visit www.anacortesyachtclub.org.

New activity passports get kids involved K

ids will have more to do than ever at this year’s Waterfront Festival, and they’ll have a chance to win a prize while doing it.

Kids can pick up an activity passport at the Chamber of Commerce’s information booth for the festival. On it will be a list of activities to do along the waterfront, including visiting Clover the Balloon Fairy, investigating interactive sealife tanks with the Shannon Point Marine Center and checking out some in-water demonstrations.

Young participants will get a stamp at each stop. Then, they can turn their passports back in at the information booth. Everyone turning in a completed passport will receive a prize, said festival director Laura Hartner with the chamber.

Parents will be encouraged to fill out the back of the passport about where the family is from and other information that will help the chamber determine how many people come to the Waterfront Festival and how many are from out of town.

The passport will lead the families from the Channel of Discovery and kids activities at the main part of the festival and down the pedestrian walkway past the docks to Seafarers’ Memorial Park. There are in-water demonstrations there every year, and many people miss them, Hartner said.

One of the new activities for kids this year is in conjunction with the Shannon Point Marine Center, Hartner said. The center will have its boat docked at the B Dock. Kids can come aboard and tour, checking out the interactive tanks of sealife. They can also drive remote submarines under the water. The submarines are equipped with a camera, so the kids can watch what the subs are passing on the bay floor.

The submarines are also being used through the STEM programs in the Anacortes School District, Hartner said. The students can tie together what they are learning in the classroom with what they experience at the festival. Looking forward, Hartner said she hopes to do more similar projects in the future that provide both fun and educational experiences at the festival.

— Briana Alzola

CONTRIBUTED / ANACORTES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

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Waterfront Festival 2016

Anacortes American • Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Tour debris recovery Try your hand at water activities vessel M/V Puget T T

he Waterfront Festival offers all kinds of boat-themed fun for families and this year is offering the chance to climb aboard the M/V Puget, a debris recovery vessel with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The M/V Puget will be docked at the end of the C Dock all day both days of the annual festival. Attendees will be able to climb aboard and take a look around.

The steel vessel was built for the Navy in 1944. It is 104 feet long, with a 30-foot beam flat bottom. Recently, it was given twin diesel engines to help increase fuel efficiency and decrease exhaust pollutants. Two gen-

erators supply electrical power.

It has a five-person crew and is based out of the Hiram M. Chittenden locks in Ballard.

The M/V Puget removes sunken vessels and other objects that would otherwise obstruct other vessels. It also removes trees or other debris that could be obstructions or lead to flooding, and it removes sunken vessels or waterfront debris that could be a danger to people.

It mainly patrols the inland waters of the Puget Sound.

Information: www.nws. usace.army.mil/Missions/ C i v i l Wo r k s / N a v i g a t i o n / DebrisRecovery.aspx.

he Waterfront Festival is all about connecting with what the water in Anacortes has to offer, said Laura Hartner, with the Anacortes Chamber of Commerce.

Part of that is celebrating maritime history and part is showing people the different recreation options available on the water, she said.

This year, there will be a series of in-water demonstrations throughout the day Saturday at Seafarers’ Memorial Park for people to enjoy — and try their hands at, Hartner said.

• The Old Anacortes Rowing and Sailing Society group will have its longboat the Elizabeth Bonaventure at Seafarers’ Memorial Park from 10 a.m. to noon. OARSS members will work with inexperienced rowers so that people can try their hand at rowing the longboat, Hartner

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• At 1 p.m., the Anacortes RC Sailors will take over the park with their remote-controlled sailboat races. The group generally meets each week from September to mid-May for a couple hours of racing and sailing.

Members will be on hand to answer questions and showcase their boats.

Information: sites.google.com/ site/arcsailors.

• Starting at 3 p.m., SUP San Juans will provide hands-on demonstrations of stand-up paddle boards.

SUP San Juans is a nonprofit business that runs SUP tours to the San Juans out of Anacortes.

SUP is a fun, safe sport that is accessible to people of all abilities, according to the SUP San Juans website.

Information: supsanjuans.com.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016 • Anacortes American

Ribbon cutting planned for disc golf course A

fter several years of planning and work, a ribbon cutting at the disc golf course at Cap Sante will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 4.

Demonstrations on disc golf will begin at noon at the corner of R Avenue and Market Street.

Rotary Park Disc Golf Course has been in progress for more than a year. Volunteers helped pull out areas of the English ivy that was taking over the area.

The Anacortes Rotary Club was one of the groups that helped pull the ivy and also donated money for the tees, which included timber and gravel bases.

The Anacortes Parks Foundation, Anacortes Brewery and the Anacortes Parks & Recreation

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Waterfront Festival 2016

Department were also involved.

There are nine “holes” on the golf course — metal baskets hanging on poles. A variety of specialty discs are used in the game and the basic goal is to get a disc into the basket in the fewest number of throws.

Tom Griffin, with the Anacortes Rotary Club, said the group has been working hard to get the course ready for the Waterfront Festival.

He said the club hopes to soon host the first Rotary Club Disc Golf Charity Tournament, Griffin said. He wants to make it an annual event.

Visit www.cityofanacortes. org/disc_golf_course.php for a course map. Visitors can also scan a code to transfer a map directly to their smartphones.

Join fun at plaza dance I

n the 1930s, residents here started hosting plaza dances as a way for businesses to thank fishermen for coming to town. The boats would stop in Anacortes so the fishermen could come in and shop.

Businesses put on the dances so they would have something fun to do while they were here.

The third annual plaza dance — a nod to that maritime heritage — will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 4, at the plaza outside the Anacortes Depot & Community Center, 611 R Ave. Admission is free.

More than 200 people attended last year’s dance.

Anacortes Brewery will provide a beer garden, and A’Town Big Band will play.

In the ’30s, there were

Proud Sponsor of the Quick and Dirty Boat Building Competition Join us at the ANACORTES WATERFRONT FESTIVAL Saturday, June 4th Boat Building: 9am to 3pm Parade and Rowing Demonstration: 5pm Visit the Festival and watch the competition.

Help us support the Anacortes Small Boat Center and local non-profits, selected by the boat building teams.

Buy a nail and use it to vote for your favorite boat!!!

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about 10 people on each vessel and sometimes 100 vessels would be docked in Anacortes at the same time. The fisher-

men came from Anacortes, Everett, Tacoma and everywhere in between to go fish in the northern Puget Sound.

The dances continued on into the 1940s but became less frequent during the war.

Before the dance begins this year, there will be opening reception at 6 p.m. for the Explore Anacortes Waterfront History exhibit at Anacortes Museum’s Maritime Heritage Center, 703 R Ave. The exhibit features artifacts and vintage movies from along the waterfront, including mural-sized photographs of cannery row and the sixfoot wooden wheel and telegraph of the ferry Vashon.

The exhibit has an overview of shoreline activities.

Admission to the heritage center is free.

Thank you to our sponsors and volunteers. Your generous support helps raise funds for the Anacortes Small Boat Center and local non-profits.

nacortes Small Boat Center

Gaining meaningful public access to the waterways of Fidalgo Island

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Waterfront Festival 2016

Anacortes American • Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Saturday, June 4 Activities

Entertainment

Opening ceremonies

All day

OARSS

10 a.m.

10 a.m. to noon

Free Boat Rides M/V Puget tours Interactive sealife tanks

10:15 a.m. Fidalgo elementary marimba band Joy Mills Band 10:45-11 a.m. 212 Elite Cheer performance 11 a.m.

Free boat rides Blackjack squadron flyover

Disc golf demonstrations

Swinomish canoe demonstrations

RC sailboat races

Mount Erie elementary mustang singers

11:30 a.m. noon 12:15 p.m.

Shifty sailors Kimball and the Fugitives

3-5 p.m.

3:15 p.m.

Quick & Dirty demonstration

Shifty sailors

1-3 p.m.

1:20 p.m.

Stand-up paddle boards

An-o-chords

Joy Mills Band

5-5:45 p.m.

5:45 p.m.

7 p.m.

Chris Eger Band

Plaza Dance with A’Town Big Band

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Waterfront Festival 2016

Wednesday, May 25, 2016 • Anacortes American

Sunday, June 5 Activities All day

Entertainment

Opening ceremonies

10 a.m.

Free Boat Rides M/V Puget tours Interactive sealife tanks

10:20 a.m.

Student submarine demonstrations

A-Town Big Band

11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Vela Luka 11:25 a.m.

1 p.m.

Vela Luka Croatian Dance Ensemble

2 p.m.

Fidalgo DanceWorks

2:30 p.m.

Milk Carton Derby

Scoreman Bonesnake

3:15 p.m.

3:45 p.m.

on Milk Cart

AHS drumline and jazz band

Derby

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Join us in Celebrating 27 years of Waterfront Fun & Community WHEN:

Saturday & Sunday June 4th 10am - 7pm June 5th 10am - 5pm

WHERE:

The Cap Sante Marina on Anacortes’ beautiful waterfront At the Shell Puget Sound Refinery, we know how fortunate we are to live, recreate and operate in such a special community, and we encourage you to join us in celebrating our community at the annual Anacortes Waterfront Festival.

Enjoy the live music, great local food, boat rides, games and activities for all ages at this year’s festival.

Let’s come together and celebrate the proud maritime heritage that makes this community such an incredible place to live and do business. www.shell.us/pugetsoundrefinery twitter.com/Shell_Anacortes facebook.com/pugetsoundrefinery Proudly Fueling Life in the Pacific Northwest