You can take the whole family to St. Michaels June 16-18, Father’s Day weekend, for the
Antique and Classic Boat Festival on the grounds of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. This year, the festival features Chesapeake Bay-built workboats, including the Chesapeake deadrise and buy boat seen dockside at the museum.
Along with the East Coast’s largest collection of antique and classic boats, the festival’s signature Arts at Navy Point pavilion brings 70 juried fine artists, craftspeople, and vendors offering nautical and maritime-themed items for boat and home.
This year’s festival will feature a selection of sailing log canoes on land and in the water. A regional adaptation of the traditional Indian dugout canoes, log canoes were used from the 18th through the 20th century as all-purpose Chesapeake craft, to harvest oysters, transport goods, and to get people from place to place.
A small log canoe fleet continues—including CBMM’s
Flying Cloud,
Edmee S.,
Marianne, and
Bufflehead—with many seen today along the Chesapeake’s Chester, Miles, and Tred Avon Rivers during races each summer and fall. With long masts and large sails, these boats keep upright as they accelerate, with crew members climbing to the ends of 15-foot boards placed perpendicular to the boat itself.
Hours
Friday: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Tickets
Individual Admission Friday and Saturday (good for two days):
- $5 per person for CBMM member adults
- $18 adults
- $15 seniors (62+ and students with ID)
- $6 kids (ages 6-17)
- Children ages 5 and under enter for free and CBMM members ages 17 and under enter for free.
Sunday Admission Rates:
General admission rates apply due to limited festival hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Docking at CBMM
Please register directly with the Antique and Classic Boat Society Chesapeake Chapter to ensure your slip reservation. Contact Hank Reiser, the dock master for ACBS Chesapeake at (410) 533-8752 or
[email protected]. Register at
chesapeakebayacbs.org.
Boating History Seminars (sponsored by PropTalk!) and Daily Schedule
Free to all visitors with the price of admission to the museum.
Friday, June 16 (11 Am to 5 PM)
10 AM - Registration Opens
1:30 PM (weather permitting) - A 2.5 hour cruise around Wye Island. Meet at the Oystering Building deck on the museum's waterfront.
2 PM - "Chesapeake Log Canoes: Preserving Historic Boats, Preserving Traditions"
with Pete Lesher, chief curator Chesapeake Bay Maritime Musuem
3 PM - "Aesthetic Guide to Collectible Cabin Cruisers 1940 to 1970"
Special presentation with Jeff Beard, past president Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the Antique and Classic Society.
6 to 7:30 PM - Captain's Party at Navy Point: Cocktails and light hors d'oeuvres at the main tent.
Saturday, June 17 (10 AM to 5 PM)
9 AM - Judging Begins
10 AM - "Propeller Technology from Cup to Pitch"
with Gary Van Tassel, principal of VT Design in Norfolk, VA.
11 AM - "JFK's
Honey Fitz, Hemingway's
Pilar: Master Restoartions by Moores Marine"
Conversations with Jim Moores, president of Moores Marine.
11 AM - Youth Program at the Kids Pool - youth build and race their own wood boats. Youth judging.
12 PM - Registration Closes
1 PM - "Chesapeake Log Canoes: the Show's Feature Boats"
Special presentation by the honorable Judge John North, former chair Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas Commission, CBMM founding member and past president Marc. With Marc Castelli, award-winning maritime artist from Chestertown, MD.
2 PM - "Stitch in Time: Antique Boat Upholstery"
with Eric Zelman of the Smith Mountain Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society
3 PM - Open
Sunday, June 18 (10 AM to 2 PM)
8 to 9 AM - Continental Breakfast in Steam Boat Building.
12 PM - Awards Picnic, main tent.