Wooden Boat Festival
The 42nd Annual Wooden Boat Festival is this weekend, September 7th - 9th! This three-day, nautical celebration features over 300 boats, 120 presentations, interactive exhibits, live music, and a beer, wine, & cider garden with some of the most incredible views of the water, festival, and myriad of boats from the deck of the Northwest Maritime Center.
There are options to get out on the water for free(!) on a paddleboard, rowboat, or an hour and a half ride aboard the Martha J. Or enjoy longer sails with dinner included (prices vary per sail) for a more immersive experience on the waters of Puget Sound.
Click here to purchase tickets to the festival.
Photo Credit: Paola Thomas/Seattle Refined
Artwork and photo by: Jill Bliss
Crafts by the Dock
As the Wooden Boat Festival celebrates nautical traditions, Crafts by the Dock in its 47th year, is a juried arts & crafts fair one block away from the Northwest Maritime Center, celebrating art. The fair on Saturday, September 8th from 10am - 6pm & 9th from 10am to 5pm. If you plan to go to the Wooden Boat Festival, definitely stop by the arts & crafts fair!
The Port Townsend Art Guild hosts the annual fair featuring handmade items from local artists including glass beads, wood furniture, paintings, photography, soap, leatherwork, baskets, clothing, and more. For a few years in a row I have now spent more than I have intended to at Crafts at the Dock and walked away with treasures for myself and loved ones!
Pictured are stickers (that can go on everything from a kayak to a laptop!) by local artist Jill Bliss, is inspired by her work as naturalist of the Salish Sea. She has been a vendor at Crafts at the Dock and creates fantastic prints, cards, calendars, and stickers.
Ukulele Festival
Centrum hosts a yearly Ukulele Festival and on Thursday, September 13th and Friday, September 14th head over to the Fort Worden campus to hear amazing ukulele artists with diverse backgrounds including pop-folk, Americana, blues, and more!
Most people associate the ukulele with Hawaii, but the instrument originated as a machête on Madeira, a small island south of Portugal. Due to poverty, natural disasters, and famine, many Madeirans immigrated to Hawaii in the late 1800s. Three Madeiran woodworkers began making instruments that are a hybrid of a machête and a small Portuguese instrument that became the ukulele. Hawaii's last king, David Kalakaua featured the ukulele at royal events and learned to play the instrument himself, often playing it at informal gatherings cementing the instrument into the Hawaiian culture.
Click here for tickets to hear the uber cheerful music of the four-stringed mini lute.
Source: UkuleleMag.com
Daniel Ho
Centrum Faculty Member & six-time Grammy Award Winner!
Photo Credit: Centrum
Barn venue & photo credit: RainCoast Farm
Jefferson County Farm Tour
The Jefferson County Farm Tour is one of my favorite events of the year! The farm tour is a self-guided tour of 17 farms throughout Jefferson County on September 15th & 16th from 10am to 4pm. The tour is open to the public with a suggested $10 donation that can be made at any of the 17 farms.
It is a unique opportunity to visit a wide variety of farms and meet your local farmers. The farms range from apple orchards, vegetable gardens, magical greenhouses, farm animals & fiber farms, wineries & cideries, and even some wedding venues! If the wedding venues interest you, make sure to add RainCoast Farm, Finnriver, and Eaglemount at Arcadia to your list.
Click here to view all the farms on the tour.
Photo Credit: Port Townsend Film Festival
Port Townsend Film Festival
The Port Townsend Film Festival is made for movie buffs. For the weekend of September 21st - 23rd, eight venues in downtown Port Townsend will be playing over 90 films all within walking distance.
The festival features shorts, documentaries, narratives, and more, and many will have a filmmaker in attendance including actor Danny Glover, director Jane Campion, and director Charles Burnett. Depending on how many movies you want to see or you availability, the festival offers a variety pass types.
Don’t miss out on catching a movie in the Rose Theatre’s spectacular Starlight Room or an outdoor showing of A Hard Day’s Night!