Colourful characters, live entertainment and wooden boats highlight Richmond Maritime Festival
Float on into the Richmond Maritime Festival Saturday, Aug. 12 and Sunday, Aug. 13 for a free, fun family celebration of the maritime industry that helped build B.C.
History and entertainment come together on a beautiful waterfront site for a festival that features spontaneous encounters with a cast of colourful roving characters, including wharf rats, pirates, mermaids and log-rolling lumberjacks, plus storytellers, visual artists, live entertainment and more.
Festival-goers of all ages will also be entertained by a wide variety of maritime-themed activities and will be able to refuel at a number of food trucks on site. The continuous live music and dance performances will include an early Saturday evening performance by local favourite Good for Grapes.
A festival within a festival, a celebration of wooden boats will include everything from boatbuilding demonstrations and displays to free public boarding of a number of historic vessels.
Among the ships lining Britannia’s 600-foot dock will be the steampowered sister ships, the SS Master and Merrie Ellen, both built in 1922 in False Creek, with storied working lives along the Pacific Northwest coast. The Ella McKenzie, a 38-foot wooden tugboat, built in 1951, will also be on display. Once a dredge tender and oil-spill response vessel in Burrard Inlet, the Ella McKenzie was later used for hand logging in Haida Gwaii, before a 2007 restoration and conversion to a pleasure craft.
On land, Wooden Boat Lane will feature more than a dozen exhibitors and include a display of various wooden boats, kayaks and canoes. The very popular Kids Cove area will also return with a number of handson activities for kids, including the opportunity to hammer together their own miniature wood boats.
For those who want to get on water, the River Queen will be offering 15-minute boat rides along the Steveston Channel both days of the festival.
Festival-goers will also be able to tour the numerous historic buildings on the picturesque eight-acre Britannia Shipyards site, including B.C.’s oldest shipyard. Many of the historic buildings on site have been restored and feature engaging and interactive displays about B.C.’s maritime history. Don’t miss the new Our Coastal Communities exhibit in the Seine Net Loft, which shows how grassroots community efforts are seeking to help combat the issue of plastic and other waste being dumped into our oceans, lakes and rivers.
The Richmond Maritime Festival will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 13 at Britannia Shipyard National Historic Site.