More tugboats, acrobatics, paddleboard races added for Harbor Days
The 43rd annual Harbor Days Tugboat Races & Festival has a lot of new attractions, including aerial acrobatics, paddleboard races, a Kids Day and free French fries.
“There’s lots and lots of new stuff to do and see,” said Carol Riley, who’s organizing the festival for the Kiwanis Club of Olympia.
Perhaps the most inspiring addition to the festival, which opens Friday (Sept. 2), is a tugboat, Heart Strings, a 16-foot log pusher that looks like something out of an animated film. The only word for it is “cute.”
The boat’s captain is 19-year-old Dillon Graham of Olympia, a tugboat devotee who has autism. Graham recently began operating the boat with the assistance of his “deckhand,” his dad, Kevin Graham.
The boat is one of 20 tugs coming to the festival, compared to just 11 last year. All will be open for tours on Saturday, and many will be available at other times too. Thirteen of the boats will compete in Sunday’s races.
Heart Strings, which won’t be racing, will be docked and open for tours throughout the weekend.
“It will obviously be a very short tour,” Kevin Graham said. But for Dillon, the weekend will be a great opportunity to meet people and share his enthusiasm for Heart Strings, which won’t take on paid work but does stop to pick up wood and other floating debris.
“He is so social,” Kevin said. “He loves to talk to people.”
Dillon has been learning about telling jokes and will have a list of water-themed ones with him.
Asked for a favorite, the captain paused. “Daddy has a favorite joke,” he said, then told it:
“What is a small pirate ship called?
“A thug boat.”
Dillon Graham’s jokes aren’t the only new addition to this year’s entertainment lineup. Music will range from African and Brazilian to jazz, old-time and psychedelic rock.
“It’s a really nice mix of all kinds of genres,” said Riley, in her first year organizing the festival.
This is the first time Harbor Days will host a show of aerial acrobatics. Airbound Underground will perform Saturday and Sunday, and the shows will have a maritime theme.
Also new are paddleboard races Saturday morning and a Kids Day on Saturday with free hands-on activities provided by the Hands On Children’s Museum and the South Sound Estuary Association. Olympia Timberland Regional Library will read stories of the sea, and the South Sound Reading Foundation will give away children’s books.
The popular purple slide and face painting will happen all weekend, along with the usual abundance of arts and crafts booths and food vendors.
And then there are those free fries. McDonald’s French fry truck, commonly seen at Seahawks and Sounders games, will be on hand all weekend, giving away free 2-ounce servings.
As far as Riley knows, this is the truck’s first visit to Olympia. She got a call from the fast-food giant’s marketing firm asking if the truck could park at Harbor Days.
Tuesday morning, Riley got another call from McDonald’s. It turns out Ronald McDonald himself will pay a visit to Harbor Days from 1-5 p.m. Saturday.
McDonald — who is, it turns out, a former Ringling Bros. clown — will not be hanging out by the fries.
“He’s going to travel the festival on a Segway,” Riley said.
Harbor Days Tugboat Races & Festival
What: The 43nd annual festival, presented by the Kiwanis Club of Olympia, offers a more tugboats than last year, plus entertainment and vendors.
When: 5-8 p.m. Friday (Sept 2), 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Saturday is Kids Day, with hands-on activities.
Where: Percival Landing and Port Plaza, downtown Olympia.
Admission: Free.
Information: harbordays.com.
Also: The yacht My Girl will offer harbor tours on Saturday ($15) and race viewing on Sunday ($40). Information and reservations at mygirltheboat.com.
Schedule
Friday
5 p.m.: Squaxin Island blessing ceremony.
5:30-8 p.m.: Pumphouse (rock).
Saturday
Kids Day with free hands-on activities.
10 a.m.: Paddleboard races.
10 a.m.-3 p.m.: Port of Olympia tours every hour on the hour.
11 a.m.-6 p.m.: Tugboat tours.
11:45 a.m. and 1:45 and 3:45 p.m.: Airbound Underground (aerial show).
Noon: Mazigazi (Afrobeat).
2 p.m.: Rich Wetzel’s Greater Orchestra (jazz).
2 p.m.: Zumba in the Park at Port Plaza.
4 p.m.: Choro Tomorrow (Brazilian).
6 p.m.: Yodelady (old-time).
Sunday
11 a.m.: Water show by Port of Olympia fire boat.
11:45 a.m. and 1:45 and 3:45 p.m.: Airbound Underground.
Noon: Parade of tugs, visible from the Percival Landing boardwalk as they head to the races.
Noon: FisherPoets on the Road (celebrating fishing in poetry, prose and song).
1 p.m.: Tugboat races, visible only from the water.
2 p.m.: Piper Stock Hill Band (music of Newfoundland).
4 p.m.: Samba Olywa (Brazilian) at Port Plaza.
4 p.m.: Psychedelic Shadow Show (psychedelic rock).
This story was originally published September 1, 2016 at 3:18 AM with the headline "More tugboats, acrobatics, paddleboard races added for Harbor Days."