The fifth annual Pender Harbour Days is set to kick off – although “launch” might be a more appropriate word to mark the start of the boat-oriented, three-day event.
What began years ago as a show of vintage sea-going vessels has morphed into much more and has become the community’s “annual celebration of marine heritage,” which this year is running Friday to Sunday, Aug. 2 to 4.
“The whole reason this started is because of Pender’s history with fishing and forestry,” Michael Price, a member of the Pender Harbour Days organizing committee, said in an interview. “There weren’t any roads and you could only get to Pender Harbour by boat.”
The display of classic boats is still the heart of the weekend, Price said.
“The main event is bringing in all the classic boats and getting them all down at the government dock in Madeira Park,” he said. “Some of the people who have fixed them up and turned them into their summer vacation boats will allow the public to go aboard and have a look at them. They’ve been refurbished from the day when they were either forestry or fishing boats.”
Festivities begin Friday at 5:30 p.m. with a boat parade, which, if the weather stays fair, can circle all the way up to Irvine’s Landing.
“Maybe half the [vintage boats] moored at the public docks will be part of it, about 15 will join in this year,” Price said. “But anyone who owns a boat in Pender Harbour is welcome to tag along. The pipe-and-drum band is on the lead boat, and you can hear them right across the harbour.”
On display in the marina parking lot will be one- and two-person open fishing boats. That’s also where you’ll find a handmade cedar-strip canoe built over the winter by the Pender Harbour Living Heritage Society, which will be raffled off on Sunday afternoon.
Local service clubs are contributing, with a Lions Club Community Breakfast on Saturday morning and a Rotary Club barbecue lunch later in the day.
Price noted that the “hardhat” divers with their old-style, metal-and-glass helmets won’t be there for the weekend. “They can only come if the tide is correct at midday, and unfortunately it won’t be at the right level this year,” he said.
The Pender Harbour School of Music has moved its monthly Friday Coffee House a week early to coincide with the celebrations. Scheduled to play, starting at 8 p.m., are singer-songwriter Katrina Bishop, the guitar-driven duo Joan and Ted, the piano-and-voice duo Shine, and singer-songwriter Simon Paradis. Musical performances will also be on the schedule on both Saturday and Sunday in Millennium Park.
