Harbor Days ‘Lite’ goes virtual to keep the maritime tradition afloat
Although the pandemic has dealt it more than one blow, Harbor Days — Olympia’s celebration of tugboats, maritime history and the last long weekend of summer — is still afloat.
The festival, this year called Harbor Days Lite, will offer many of its signature elements online and in physically distanced ways — not just on Labor Day weekend but all month long.
“We called it Harbor Days Lite because it’s a scaled-down event,” said Carol Riley, acting executive director of the festival, “but we’ve also tried to make it light and make it fun, though there’s plenty of serious information.”
“While we want to continue our 47-year-old Harbor Days legacy, we are also aware that we need to offer a safe event for the public,” Don Chalmers of the South Sound Maritime Heritage Association said in a press release.
The association started Harbor Days and found itself once again in charge of the festival in July, when the Olympia Kiwanis Club announced that it could no longer host the event because of the challenges of putting on events and fundraising during a pandemic.
This year’s mostly virtual festival will be missing the traditional tugboat races, the visits from other boats and the popular Food G’Alley, but many of the other attractions will remain.
“I’ve heard some great responses to what we’re doing,” Riley told The Olympian. “People are really happy that we’re doing something and something that has a lot of focus on kids’ activities.”
The maritime-themed activities for children range from crab bingo, developed by the Puget Sound Estuarium, to Lego brick tugboat building with help from a video made by Lego artist Dan Parker of Fife, a popular guest at the festival. Young builders are invited to submit photos of their creations for inclusion on the Harbor Days website.
There’s a self-guided tour of maritime history along the waterfront, with a map you can print from the Harbor Days website or pick up at the Olympia Center or Childhood’s End Gallery; videos of seagoing songs by Tacoma’s Knots for Sail; and an invitation to decorate your house or yard in nautical style and add your address to a map so others can drive by and appreciate your efforts — or just submit photos for inclusion on the website, if you prefer not to share your address.
Focused as the festival is on maritime heritage, some of its biggest fans are in it for the shopping — and there’ll be something for them, too.
The Harbor Days site has a page devoted to its vendors, with links to websites so people can track down that item they didn’t buy last year or find new gifts for friends and family.
“Harbor Days is a tugboat festival, but not only that,” Riley told The Olympian. “Some people come down because they love the shopping.”
Harbor Days Lite
- What: The online and physically distanced version of the 47th annual festival offers children’s activities, music, a self-guided tour, nautical decorating and even shopping.
- When: Sept. 5-30
- Where: http://harbordays.com
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 5:45 AM.