Who doesn\u2019t like a boat ride?<\/p>\n
That question is why this year\u2019s ninth annual Maritime Festival, put on by the Juneau Economic Development Council, has added cruises for adults and children to this year\u2019s event starting at Alaska Steamship Dock from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cruises are new this year because we want as many people as possible to get out onto water,\u201d Courtney Nelson, event coordinator of the Maritime Festival, said. \u201cJuneau Tours graciously stepped up and donated boats (49-passenger catamarans) for that day. So we jumped at the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nelson said she also asked herself \u201chow can we make these little cruises even more fun?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friend said why don\u2019t you put Amalga Distillery on one of them,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cAnd because we have two boats I also asked Port Chilkoot Distillery out of Haines. So we have two distinctive, really good distilleries on board the boat. I thought that would make (the cruises) more attractive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The maritime cocktail cruises depart at 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. from Seadrome Marina. The cruise will last for an hour and the course will depend just how busy the waterway is, Nelson said. Nelson said anyone interested should plan to arrive early.<\/p>\n
For those not old enough to imbibe or want to get some education while on board, there are also two kid cruise options. The first one, departing at 11 a.m. from Seadrome Marine, will feature Sealaska Heritage Institute. On that particular cruise, guests will hear stories from the SHI \u201cBaby Raven\u201d series including the book \u201cSalmon Boy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other kid cruise will feature a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist who will give a lesson about the ocean and answer any questions anyone may have.<\/p>\n
In addition to those cruises, there will be a brunch cruise from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and a dance cruise from 3 p.m.-5 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely want to keep the festival fresh and keep it fun,\u201d Dana Herndon, Communication Specialist at JEDC, said. \u201cIt is a festival about Juneau\u2019s maritime culture and commerce so it makes sense to have people on the water. It is a huge industry here and people should be aware of it and celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew Creswell, Deputy Harbormaster at City and Borough of Juneau Docks &Harbors, said the festival is way for people to see maritime-themed groups from the area all in one space.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think having the festival is a great way for community vendors, businesses and organizations to come together and showcase all things maritime here in Juneau,\u201d Creswell said.<\/p>\n
This is also the first year the festival coincides with a cruise ship also in port.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a family-friendly event that we want all the people to come out from Juneau, but we also want all the cruise people to come out,\u201d Herndon said.<\/p>\n
There will also be a raffle event this year. The cost is $5 and the winner will receive two tickets anywhere Alaska Airlines flies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a really low price-point and we are hoping a lot of people join in,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cIt is a win-win for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
In keeping with tradition from past festivals, the event will kick-off with a ceremonial entrance by One People Canoe Society that will followed by a danceThere will also be a sailboat regatta, a salmon filleting contest put on by Taku Smokeries, a U.S. Coast Guard staged search and rescue demonstration, various contests, food vendors and other maritime organizations. Along with the food and displays there will be seven live music acts all day long. There will also be a 28-foot Thunder Jet Pilot House boat on display from Willie\u2019s Marine.<\/p>\n
The event goes on rain or shine, which is good news because rain \u2014 as always \u2014 is in the forecast. Nelson said it\u2019s rained five times of the past eight festivals<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if it is raining people still come out.\u201d Herndon said. \u201cIt\u2019s Juneau and people don\u2019t care that much about rain.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter Gregory Philson at gphilson@juneauempire.com or call at 523-2265. Follow him on Twitter at @GTPhilson.<\/b><\/p>\n
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Who doesn\u2019t like a boat ride? That question is why this year\u2019s ninth annual Maritime Festival, put on by the Juneau Economic Development Council, has added cruises for adults and children to this year\u2019s event starting at Alaska Steamship Dock from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday. \u201cThe cruises are new this year because we want as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":431,"featured_media":3186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-3185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/431"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3185"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}