TALL SHIPS EVENT PICKING UP SPEED
After slow start, vendors welcome Father’s Day crowds
Sparse crowds under cloudy skies frustrated vendors and contributed to sluggish sales during the opening day of Sail Boston.
But an uptick in attendance yesterday made merchants hopeful the winds of change would right the city’s tall ship extravaganza.
“It was slow yesterday. The weather didn’t help things, we expected a lot more business than we got,” said David Doyle, regional director of Rebel Restaurants. Doyle oversaw a beer and wine tent on Seaport Boulevard near Fish Pier yesterday.
William Brooks, operations director of Southern Belles, called sales of the company’s barbecue sauce during the first day of the event “mediocre.”
Brooks ran a vending booth across the street from Fish Pier and griped that on Saturday metal barriers impeded the flow of foot traffic to his booth, where he was hawking gourmet bottles of “Spicy Hickory Smoke” and “Blueberry Blues.”
“With the barrier down, we might be able to survive,” Brooks said.
Dozens of historic sailing ships paraded into Boston Harbor Saturday and will remain tied up through Thursday for tours.
The 54-ship parade, the marquee event of the weeklong festival, hosted ships from all over the globe, including as far as the Cook Islands and Malta.
City Hall representatives and Dusty Rhodes, executive director of Sail Boston 2017, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Frank Anthony’s Gourmet Market vending station saw a steady stream of people waiting in line near Fan Pier in order to cool off with some Italian ice. Vendor Michael Prisco said business was nonstop yesterday.
“It’s crazy. Crazy. Yesterday was nothing. We didn’t have any business,” Prisco said. “Today we got the business. We’re making up for it.”
Prisco said factors other than poor weather, such as security and traffic fears, also probably kept folks at home on Saturday.
Jessica Maffeo ran a vending booth for Cafe Strega at Fan Pier yesterday.
“We’re making money today,” Maffeo said with a smile on her face. “Today has been nonstop. Everyone is in such a great mood. Not a lot of people were out (yesterday) because of the weather.”
Lines to get into Fish Pier snaked more than a block at times yesterday afternoon.
Kristin Verbeeren, area coordinator of Honest Tea, which had a booth in the pier, said yesterday was “definitely busier” than Saturday.
“It’s Sunday. It’s Father’s Day. It’s a really great day to be in Boston, so why not come on down?”