Camden Windjammer Festival 4.16

The Camden Windjammer Festival features the largest gathering of schooners in the northeast. Each Labor Day Weekend, Camden’s annual maritime celebration brings three full days of nautical events and exhibits that can only be experienced at this unique event. Entrance to the Camden Windjammer Festival is free.

Eighteen windjammers and schooners parade into the harbor on opening day, greeted by a welcome ceremony and fireworks. Visitors bid on a dockside dinner aboard one of the vessels. The schooners are open for tours both Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The Lobster Crate Race is Saturday’s highlight where contestants race across a line of crates trying to avoid falling into the harbor. The fish relay race is another spectacle, where teams carry slippery fish through an obstacle course comprised of seaweed, a simulated squall and other seaworthy challenges. A Build-A-Boat Contest challenges participants to construct their own vessel that they will race on the final day of the Windjammer Festival.

Daysailing schooners are available all weekend to treat passengers to a taste of the seafaring life on Penobscot Bay. A detailed schedule of events is available at www.camdenwindammerfestival.org.