Come join Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve for a star-spangled celebration at the Thunder Bay Maritime Festival in Alpena, Michigan, on the 4^th of July.  Commemorating America’s birthday and its rich maritime heritage, the Thunder Bay Maritime Festival offers entertainment, activities, and refreshments for all manner and ages of landlubbers and seafarers.  All events are free and run from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm at South Riverfront Park on the Thunder Bay River, behind the Federal Building on Water Street in downtown Alpena.  Located at the end of Alpena’s 4^th of July Parade route (the parade starts at 11:00 am beginning at Alpena County Fairgrounds and ending at City Hall), the festival will feature tours on five different ships, an entertainment tent, a wooden boat building demonstration, and many more activities for the entire family. 

The public will have the opportunity to visit five different vessels tied up along the south bank of the Thunder Bay River, all offering tours from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.  There will be two topsail schooners, the Madeline, a 55-foot vessel from Traverse City, MI, and the Appledore V, a 65-foot ship from Bay City, MI.   Appearing for the first time in Northeast Michigan is the newest tall ship on the Great Lakes, Friends Good Will, a reconstruction of the 56-foot sloop that was commandeered by Britain’s Royal Navy at Mackinaw Island during the War of 1812.  The Detroit chapter of the US Navy Sea Cadet Corp, a naval youth education program, will be showing their 80-foot, twin-diesel engine, Pride of Michigan, that they use as their training ship.  There will also be a NOAA research vessel and an US Coast Guard vessel for visitors to tour. 

Adults and children will also discover Great Lakes maritime history and folklore through storytelling and musical performances.  Song of the Lakes, widely known as “Musical Ambassadors of the Great Lakes” and voted best Folk Artists in Northern Michigan, will be performing and combining Michigan history with their unique humor and storytelling that draws from Celtic and Scandinavian folk traditions.  Also returning for another year at the Maritime Festival is Genot Picor.  Picor adopts the persona as a “Ghost from Michigan’s Past: A Voyageur-Scout” to share stories and music of discovery and inter-relationships between European explorers and Native Americans 300 years ago.  New to the Maritime Festival this year is the group, Sailors Three, who will be delighting audiences throughout the day with their spirited renditions of traditional sea-shanties that invoke shipboard life in days of yore.

In addition to touring ships and enjoying the performances, audiences can take their time perusing both indoor and outdoor displays.  Inside the Federal Building, visitors will be able to meet Great Lakes authors, Fran Reynolds and Bob Haltiner, view the exhibit on the Pewabic, an ill-fated passenger and package freighter that collided with another ship in 1865 and sank with the loss of more than 30 lives, and watch Tragedies in the Mist, a documentary filmed in High Definition about the shipwrecks in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve. Outside, people can stroll along the Thunder Bay River and observe displays that feature handcrafted boats, underwater archaeology, and diving in Thunder Bay. Children can participate in games and activities from sand art to rope making. Kids and families can also launch themselves into the Pirate Play Station (a giant “bouncy” inflatable pirate ship), and play games run by Junior Girl Scout Troop 976, which features everything from face painting to “gutter sailing” (miniature sail boat races).  The US Coast Guard will be setting up their obstacle course and also be hosting their mascot “coastie.”  

So come and help the sanctuary celebrate America’s birthday at this fun, free family event, July 4, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm at South Riverfront Park in downtown Alpena.  Call 989-356-8805 for more information. Click here to download a pdf flyer for the Thunder Bay Maritime Festival.