As the dust begins to settle across the South Fork from this past Labor Day’s festivities, folks in Sag Harbor are readying themselves for their annual village-wide, end-of-summer celebration, HarborFest.
A time-honored tradition for the old whaling village, this year’s HarborFest is set to occur next weekend, kicking off the night of Friday, Sept. 13, and continuing all day on both Saturday, Sept. 14, and Sunday, Sept. 15. The weekend-long festival centers around longstanding traditions of Sag Harbor, with several nautical nods to its rich, and vastly storied, maritime history. Led by the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce, festivities include fun for all ages scattered about village locales, with Long Wharf, the adjacent Windmill Beach, Steinbeck Park and Marine Park serving as prominent bases for festival action.
Kicking off this year’s HarborFest is the one and only Nancy Atlas, who, along with special guests, is performing at a concert on Friday, Sept. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Old Whalers’ Church (44 Union St.). This “Save the Whale” concert is dedicated to procuring funds for repairs to the beloved whale that sits in the water overlooking Windmill Beach and Long Wharf during the weekend’s festivities and serves as an integral part in the much-loved whaleboat races. General admission to see Atlas and company are $50, $70 for VIP tickets. Click here to book yours.
A more than 60-year-old tradition amongst locals at HarborFest, the whaleboat races are the marquee event of the festival. Set to take place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, teams of four from local businesses and organizations compete in a rowing race off Long Wharf. The championship races for both men and women divisions will be held starting at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday at Windmill Beach. The Firefighters’ Cup whaleboat race will be at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Originally called Old Whalers Fest, the event was started in 1963 by a handful of locals, with Nobel Prize winning writer John Steinbeck among the founders. “Steinbeck is one of the people responsible for us having the whaleboat races when he and a few others started this back in the 60s,” says chamber president Ellen Dioguardi.
According to Dioguardi, about $15,000 was raised “in one night,” she says, at a fundraiser for the refurbishing of the whaleboats held earlier in the spring, offering what she calls “a great and hopeful reminder for all of us” in continuing the decades-old tradition.
“HarborFest is the first big event after the summer for the village,” says chamber vice president and Kidd Squid Brewing Co. owner Rory McEvoy. “It has a long history to it, “it’s accessible for everybody and it serves as a welcome back party for the locals that have been laying low all summer. It’s a great tradition and I’m honored to be a part of it.”
Other highlights scheduled for the weekend include the Arts and Crafts fair set for Marine Park (located on Bay Street) starting at 9 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Action on Long Wharf and Windmill Beach (at the northern end of Main Street) starts at 10 a.m. each day and will include a slew of food vendors in “A Taste of Sag Harbor”, as well as fun for the kiddos, contests, games, activities and dancing. There will also be a handful of art and historic exhibitions at Sag Harbor Cinema, Eastville Community Historical Society, and the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum.
For the second year in a row, the HarborFest Lounge will be erected at Steinbeck Park with food and sake from Sen Restaurant and local wine and craft beer from Kidd Squid. New specialty beer alert: Kidd Squid will release a limited edition beer can dubbed “Save the Whale(Boats),” with proceeds going toward keeping the whaleboats in good condition. Grab yours at Kidd Squid’s Spring Street location.
Steinbeck Park will also be the spot for most live music performances throughout the weekend, with locals acts like Gene Casey and The Lonesharks, The HooDoo Loungers, Alfredo Merat, Rum Punch Mafia and Lynn Blue Band taking the stage.
Acting as the chamber’s largest fundraising event of the year, Dioguardi reminds, “HarborFest gives the chamber the money to pay for the Christmas trees you see along Main Street, the lights that decorate the windmill, materials for the Ragamuffin parade [on Halloween], HarborFrost in February… it helps us keep everything about Sag Harbor that we fell in love with going.”
To check out the full schedule for what’s up all around the village, click here.
