One of our favorite boating events of the year kicks off today in Port Townsend and runs through Sunday — the Wooden Boat Festival!

The Wooden Boat Festival is the largest wooden boat festival in North America — a place where kids and adults alike experience the magic of getting on the water, the beauty of wooden boats, and the richness of our maritime culture.

Learn from the experts, swap stories with fellow wooden boat aficionados, and bring your family for a weekend they’ll never forget. With so many different ways to adventure out on the water, there’s no better opportunity to experience this Victorian seaport from the deck of a stunning wooden schooner or at the oars of a historic replica longboat.

A highlight of this year’s festival will the a Sea Stories Panel on Saturday, September 10 from 3 to 4 p.m. Hosted by 48° North’s managing editor, Joe Cline, the panel includes voyaging luminaries and sailing gurus Nigel Calder, Steve Callahan, Karl Kruger, and Lin Pardey.

You can also catch seminars by 48° North columnists Bruce Bateau. Be Here Now: Stories from the Inside Passage, is on Saturday, Sept. 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Through a one-man short-story show (with costume changes!) Bruce will take the audience aboard Row Bird for the 400-mile journey, regaling listeners with tales of rowing long days, encounters with whales, peaceful anchorages, running rapids, and sailing across the Strait of Georgia.

Other highlights include…

Kids’ Activities:

Boatbuilding, Fish Painting T-shirts, Paddleboard Pool, Sea Shanty Circle, North Star Stage Plays, Captain Pirate’s Treasure Hunt.

Get on the Water:

Paddlewheeler Rides, Paddleboard Pool, Row & Sail a Longboat, Admiral Jack Boat Tours, Adventuress Tours & Sails, Left Coast Charters.

Food and Drink:

Barbarian Fine Cuisine, Paella House, Ziegler’s Bratwurst House, Bangkok Bistro, AB’s Hillbilly Gryos, Kokopelli Grill. Plus three pop-up bars around Festival serving up local libations!

Live Music:

Live music and dancing all weekend long at Bar Habor, and KPTZ will be broadcasting live from Wee Nip Bar on Saturday from 12–5 p.m.

Tickets include:

Access to all Festival boats, all daytime presentations and demonstrations, exhibitors, music performances, kids’ activities, and food vendors. A portion of the Wooden Boat Festival ticket sales goes to support the year-round programs and events at the Northwest Maritime Center! Find out more HERE.