The Foss Waterway Seaport and Thea’s Park were bustling with pirates and port-enthusiasts Saturday and Sunday for the 20th annual Maritime Fest.
The event celebrates Tacoma’s significance as a maritime city with music, competitions and tours of the port, among other activities.
“They’ve got a lot of pirates here – people that are dressed up like pirates,” Ray Vellinga of Gig Harbor said Sunday.
Velliinga helped man an exhibit at the festival about hydrofoils, watercraft whose underwater wings develop lift at a certain speed that brings the hull above the water.
It’s the first year the International Hydrofoil Society has had a booth at the festival, Vellinga said. He’s a board member of the group.
It wasn’t the first year he had been to the event, though. He said he’s gone for several years now, and especially enjoys the boat tours of the port.
“You can’t get anything like this perspective except by boat,” Vellinga said. “It’s really neat and they only do it once a year.”
The Foss Waterway Seaport had the chance to show off its renovated building at the event, executive director Tom Cashman said. Construction on the building is about a month from completion, he said.
The festival will be run by the seaport next year, instead of the Maritime Festival Organization that usually organizes it.
They’ll get to work planning next year’s event in a couple weeks, Cashman said.
“It’s been outstanding weather,” Cashman said of this year’s event. “The activities along the docks have been great.”
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