Maritime Week gets underway Saturday, August 5, with a picnic for all active, reserve, retired and veteran Coast Guard personnel and their families. The picnic is hosted by the City’s Coast Guard Committee and sponsored by the Sturgeon Bay AMVETS Post 51, Green Bay Council of the Navy League, other local veteran groups, merchants and businesses. Festivities begin at 11 a.m. at Sawyer Park in Sturgeon Bay.
Sunday, August 6, brings a new event to the Maritime Week calendar. Adopt-a-Soldier Door County and the Sturgeon Bay Fire Department will host an “all you can eat” breakfast at the firehouse adjacent to City Hall from 7-11 a.m. Following breakfast, there will be a BBQ and benefit concert at Martin Park from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The bands Last Man Standing and Copper Box will entertain throughout the afternoon. In addition to food, fun and music, raffles, a silent auction and the “Adopt-a-Box” fundraiser will afford an opportunity to support the extraordinary work of the Adopt-a-Solder programs.
The festivities continue on Monday, August 7, at the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club with the Coast Guard Person of the Year and Mariner Award Dinner. Initiated in 2010 by the Door County Maritime Museum and Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club, the Mariner Award recognizes individuals, both living and deceased, who’ve had a significant, positive and lasting impact on the Door County maritime community. Sponsored by the Sturgeon Bay Coast Guard Committee and the Navy League, the Coast Guard Person of the Year award recognizes a local active duty Coast Guard man or woman who exemplifies the service’s core values of Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty. The event opens with cocktail hour at 5:30 followed by the award dinner. For tickets and information, contact the Door County Maritime Museum.
The Harmony by the Bay Summer Concert Series continues the Maritime Week celebration on Wednesday, August 9, at Martin Park. The ever-popular Big Mouth and the Power Tool Horns will entertain. The concert begins at 7 p.m. and will open with a salute to veterans from all branches of the armed forces.
The Salute to the Coast Guard Golf Outing continues the week’s activities on Thursday, August 10. This public golf event celebrates the Coast Guard’s birthday with a fun four-person scramble format at Idlewild Golf Course. Contact the Maritime Museum for an entry form and additional details.
Thursday’s activities also include the “TGIT” Sail Racing at the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club that evening. Contact the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club at (920) 743-6934 for details.
Maritime Week returns to Martin Park on Friday, August 11, with an outdoor movie, “Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone,” hosted by the City of Sturgeon Bay. The family-friendly show begins at dusk.
The weekend of August 12 & 13 is literally packed with maritime activities on Sturgeon Bay’s working waterfront. Saturday, August 12, opens with the first day of the Door County Classic and Wooden Boat Festival on the grounds of the Door County Maritime Museum. The many activities at the Classic and Wooden Boat Festival blend with the Maritime on Madison celebration, sponsored by the West Side Business Association. There will be plenty of music, store sales and kid’s activities to keep everyone entertained as they stroll Sturgeon Bay’s historic West Side. On the Maritime Museum grounds, dozens of classic boats will be on display. The construction and the decoration phase in the ever-popular Sikaflex Boat Building competition also begins Saturday morning. Watch as two-person teams working feverishly with limited lumber and materials to craft a one-of-a-kind boat that will float, hopefully. Bring your appetite and enjoy concessions that will include fresh whitefish sandwiches, burgers, brats, beer, wine and more. The grounds open at 9 a.m.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s activities at the Classic and Wooden Boat Festival and Maritime on Madison, head for the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club for their annual Evening on the Bay events Saturday evening, including live music, boat parade and fireworks. All events are open to the public. Contact the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club at (920) 743-6934 for details on all the “Evening on the Bay” events.
Maritime Week wraps up on Sunday August 13, with the second day of the Door County Classic and Wooden Boat Festival. The “sea trials” of the often less-than-sea-worthy Sikaflex Challenge vessels is always the highlight of day two. Also enjoy special deck tours of the immaculately restored tug John Purves as well as the museum’s “Sea Dogs” exhibit and interactive Elba pilothouse which allows aspiring ship captains to steer the century-old freighter down the Sturgeon Bay shipping channel.
Sturgeon Bay’s designation as an official Coast Guard City in 2014 makes the celebration even more special. Sturgeon Bay is one of only 20 communities nationwide to be named a Coast Guard City and is the first, and only, in Wisconsin!
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