HarborFest Will Keep the Village Hopping
Saturday morning is when most of the action will begin on Long Wharf for Sag Harbor’s annual HarborFest weekend, and a lot of it will involve food.
The Sag Harbor Farmers Market will relocate there at 9 a.m., joined by local artisans and craft vendors, and food vendors, including local restaurants and wineries, will offer their treats on Saturday and Sunday. Main Street shops will get in on the action with sidewalk sales throughout the weekend.
Saturday will also bring the start of the annual Whalers Cup Whaleboat Races at noon from the beach near the windmill on Long Wharf, with teams of four competing throughout the weekend in men’s and women’s divisions. The finals will be on Sunday at 3 p.m.
On Saturday at 4 p.m. there will be a lobster roll-eating contest sponsored by Bay Burger. Last year’s winner, Will Millender, consumed six and a half lobster rolls in five minutes.
For kids, there will be face painting on Long Wharf both days, stories and songs of the sea on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. courtesy of the John Jermain Memorial Library, and at 11 a.m. that day, a corn shucking contest. Registration is at the windmill on Long Wharf. A tug-of-war will be held on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. followed by a visit from Waldo the Clown.
There will be music on Long Wharf both days. A traditional seafaring sing-along will take place on Saturday at 11 a.m. with John Corr, and then at 1, the Sag Harbor Community Band will perform. At 3, Hopefully Forgiven, a group featuring Brad Penuel and Telly Karoussos, will perform. The Nancy Atlas Project will play at the Bay Street Theatre at 8 p.m. for $15. Jim Turner will play classic blues and folk tunes on Long Wharf Sunday from noon to 2 p.m.
Boat tours aboard Capt. Don Heckman’s American Beauty will explore Sag Harbor’s waterfront on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and 1 and 3 p.m. Information about the natural and historical evolution of Sag Harbor and its surrounding communities, from the 1600s to today, will be included.
Those interested in the village’s history can take walking tours of the Old Burying Ground, Sag Harbor’s oldest, on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. At 5 p.m., the Eastville Community Historical Society will offer a tour of the Eastville neighborhood.
A tour on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. will take in houses of important women, some famous and some not, who were born or lived in the village. Walkers can tour the Oakland Cemetery at 1:30 p.m. that day.
Festival goers can fuel up for the day Sunday at 8 a.m. at a pancake breakfast at the Sag Harbor Fire Department’s main firehouse on Brick Kiln Road. At noon, local restaurants will offer up samples of clam chowder to be judged by the public, and at 3:30 that day, Pete Ambrose will defend his title as Shucker of the Year at a clam-shucking contest on Long Wharf. Registration will be at the food pantry table.
To work off Sunday breakfast, people can join in a stretch and tone class at Windmill Beach at 9:30 a.m., and at 10 a.m., a paddleboarding demonstration and impromptu short-course race will take place. Those interested should take a bathing suit and a board.
On Sunday at 2:30 p.m., a JY-15 Women in One Design Regatta will be held by the Breakwater Yacht Club. The regatta is open to men and women of all ages and experience levels, but a woman must be at the helm. The entry fee will be $10 per boat, and the club will provide boats for an additional $25. Breakwater Yacht Club membership is not required. Races will be held in the waters off Havens Beach.
The East End Classic Boat Society will display all manner of classic wood vessels on Long Wharf all weekend, and the Coast Guard Auxiliary will offer boat inspections and knot-tying demonstrations on the floating dock adjacent to the wharf. A deep sea rescue boat from the Coast Guard station in Montauk will also be on the wharf, conditions permitting, with service men and women available for a tour and to answer questions.