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Wilmington tugboat fest may draw thousands |
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Sunday, 08 July 2007 11:59 |
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WILMINGTON -- Tugboats start arriving today for the Great Wilmington Tugboat Celebration, this weekend at Fort Christina and the Kalmar Nyckel Shipyard.Executive Director Marcia Ferranto says the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation is preparing for about 10,000 people throughout the event.'This is the first time we've had a tugboat festival,'she said. 'We had a tall-ship festival last year.'Ten tugs will dock at the shipyard, while Delaware's tall ship will berth elsewhere on the Christina River, at the Dravo Shipyard by the Shipyard Shops on the Riverfront. There will be no tours of the ambassador ship during the weekend -- normally offered for $5 and available other times this summer at the shipyard.While the Kalmar Nyckel -- a re-creation of the ship that carried the state's first permanent European settlers here in 1638 -- is docked at the Dravo Shipyard, several public sailing trips are being offered.Tickets are still available for 90-minute pirate-theme sails starting at 10 a.m., and 2 and 6 p.m. on all three days of the festival, Ferranto said. A ticket is $35. $20 for a child. Cruises fill quickly, so reservations are suggested by calling the foundation's shipyard office at 429-7447, she said. Reservations may be made online at www.kalmarnyckel.org.Over at the shipyard festivities, the tugboat celebration has a daily admission fee of $5; children younger than 6 are admitted free.The event is expected to fill the shipyard with activities that start at noon Friday, including tours of the tugboats, coming from a variety of in-state and out-of-state ports.History and heritage-oriented exhibits and displays dotting the shipyard will include areas hosted by Hag- ley Museum, the Delaware Museum of Natural History, Winterthur and historic Greenbank Mill.There will be artists, crafts, games, vendors, music, 'a ton of food'and plenty of other entertainment, along with demonstrations of blacksmithing, carving and other crafts of Colonial times, Ferranto said.Young guests will be able to try some of the no-batteries-required games that children played during that era. They also can visit with human and nonhuman guests from the Brandywine Traveling Zoo, get their faces painted and cool off by walking through the mist of a water station.There's even going to be a roving pirate. So kids are invited to wear pirate outfits, and parents are encouraged to bring cameras to take pictures of their kids with the Jack Sparrow look-alike.Throughout the weekend event, guests can visit the newest addition at the shipyard, a small hands-on museum called the New Sweden Centre, run by a separate foundation.Friday activities end at 5:30 p.m., which marks the start time of a pig roast and shrimp fest. Tickets are sold separately for that riverside dining experience, which runs until 9 p.m., at $35, $15 for children younger than 12.The shipyard reopens at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, when the tugboat celebration continues till 6 p.m.Also both days, there will be an all-you-can-eat crabs tent with a cash bar for beer. Tickets -- again, with reservations suggested -- are $35, $20 for children younger than 12.And Sunday afternoon guests won't want to miss a special competition among the tugboats. They will compete in a so-called 'push-of-war,'sort of like a tug of war, Ferranto said, but there's no rope, and boats push instead of pull. The exact time of the 'push-of-war'will be posted and announced at the event, she said.'We're excited to host the tugboats,'Ferranto said. 'This is going to be a lot of fun for everybody.'
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