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SAVE THE DATE! The 2024 Salem Maritime Festival will be held on Saturday, August 3rd from 11 AM to 6:30 PM. Stay tuned for many more details yet to come.
NPS
Join us for the annual Salem Maritime Festival on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at Salem Maritime National Historic Site on Derby Street. This event is free and open to the public. Salem Maritime Festival will feature musicians, a magician, visiting vessels, historic craft demonstrators, and hands-on activities.
The day will kick off the Great Salem Maritime Cardboard Boat Regatta. Teams of two will test their engineering, ingenuity, and artistry by building homemade boats constructed on cardboard and duct tape. Launching from Derby Beach in a series of heats, teams will race to paddle their cardboard boats in the Salem Sound.
Schedule of Events
11:00 am - 1:00 pm: The Great Salem Maritime Cardboard Boat Regatta (races and award ceremony) 12:00 noon - 6:00 pm: Demonstrators, exhibits, and activities 12:45 pm - 6:30 pm: Live music and entertainment 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm: Free kayak and paddleboat rentals 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Reopening of the Salem Custom House
The Great Salem Maritime Cardboard Boat Regatta (2023)
NPS Photo
The Great Salem Maritime Cardboard Boat Regatta
Join Salem Maritime National Historic Site for Salem's favorite cardbord-themed event! Taking place during the Maritime Festival, local teams will race their homemade cardboard boats in Salem Harbor. Spectators are encouraged to line Derby Wharf and cheer on the racers.
All cardboard boat race spots are now full. Come down and support your favorite team!
Squeezebox Stompers
Live Music and Entertainment
12:45 pm - 2:15 pm – Squeezebox Stompers – Cajun, New Orleans Mardi Gras Music 2:30 pm - 3:15 pm – Evan The Magician 3:30 pm - 4:45 pm - Sweet Soul Sounds – Motown 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm – Luna Latin Jazz Group – Latin Jazz, Salsa
Tony Toledo - Master of Ceremonies
Squeezebox Stompers:
The Squeezebox Stompers are a Boston area Americana Roots band. They have performed Cajun, Zydeco, Blues, Folk, and originals all over New England for the past 15 years. Members of the band have received Boston Music Awards and Songwriting Awards. They are noted for their step-lively up-beat music inspiring audiences to get up and dance.
Evan the Magician:
Evan Northup has 10 years of musical theater, 15 years of musical perfomance, and 20 years of dance experience. All of these skills are brought together in his magic performances. For Evan, magic remains the perfect balance of creative outlet and challenging work.
Sweet Soul Sounds:
This Salem, Massachusetts-based cover band centers the Motown tradition in its fun, dance friendly performances. Greg Coles and Nicole Harris, Vocals. Grant Clark, Percussion. Rory McKenzie, Bass. Alton Hollister, Saxophone.
Schooner "Adventure"
Vessels
Schooner Adventure
Visit the 1926 dory-fishing Schooner Adventure. The National Historic Landmark Schooner Adventure is one of the last surviving Grand Banks dory-fishing schooners. She is a national treasure that sails as an icon of the American fisheries and as a floating classroom celebrating maritime history. The schooner is operated at sea along the New England coast, as a living monument to Massachusetts’ fishing heritage. Schooner Adventure will be open from 12 noon - 6 pm.
Lewis H. Story
The Lewis H. Story, the flagship and ambassador for the Essex Shipbuilding Museum, is a representation of a pink-sterned Chebacco boat, a two-masted gaff-rigged vessel designed for inshore cod fishing and coastal trading by the men of Chebacco Parish, now Essex, Massachusetts. Measuring 30 feet on deck, her hull, deck arrangement, and rig are typical of post-Revolutionary War inshore fishermen.
Designed and built by master shipwright Harold A. Burnham, the Story was commissioned by the Essex Historical Society & Shipbuilding Museum in 1998 as a replica of the Chebacco boat type. Lewis H. Story will be open from 12 noon - 6 pm.
Friendship of Salem
Friendship will be open for deck tours from 12 noon - 6 pm. Due to the ongoing construction project onboard, tours will be in small groups of 6 people at a time throughout the day.
About Friendship of Salem: The original Friendship, a two-decked, three-masted, square-rigged, 342-ton vessel was built from 1796-1797. The Friendship made 15 international voyages before being captured during the War of 1812. The replica tall ship, Friendship of Salem, is docked at Derby Wharf and was designed to present the appearance an original 1797 Salem-built vessel. The keel was laid in Scarano Shipyard in Albany, New York in 1996 and uses modern technology and materials to meet today’s safety and accessibility requirements.
Jolly Boat - BOB
The jolly boat will available for viewing from 11 am - 6 pm at the wharf behind Pedrick Store House.
The Friendship of Salem jolly boat was built, and is still maintained, by the ship's volunteers. Traditionally, a jolly boat was used to bring people and small amounts of supplies between the ship and shore when anchored in port. The Friendship of Salem's jolly boat is named "BOB." This is not a historic name, but rather one given to it due to the large number of volunteers involved in building it who were named Bob. In the summer months, you can often see "BOB" being rowed through Salem Harbor by our volunteers
Kayaks and Paddleboards
Free paddleboard and kayak rentals will be available to use off of Central Wharf from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. An instructor will be onsite for anyone who needs a lesson. Safety equipment will be available.
NPS
Reopening the Custom House
After a major repair and preservation project, the Custom House will be reopened to the public. Step inside the historic structure, built in 1819, that housed offices for the officers of the U.S. Customs Service, as well as an attached warehouse, the Public Stores, used for the storage of bonded and impounded cargo. Park staff and volunteers will offer interpretive talks as you explore the historic building and exhibits.
These significant repairs helped correct years of deterioration of the historic structure and protect these important pieces of American history. The project included extensive repairs to exterior and interior features of the building, including the portico, railings, shutters, cupola, snow and ice rail, roof, chimneys and plaster walls. All wood and metal on the exterior of the building, and interior surfaces, was painted.
NPS
Exhibitors
Explore the stories of Salem and beyond with local exhibitors and community organizations. Visit the exhibitor tents from 12 noon to 6 pm.
Acadia Sailors
Andy Volpe - Copper Plate Engraver
Bill Wasson - Rope Making
Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki People
Environment for the Americas
Essex National Heritage Area
Geraldine Brancato - Spinning Wheel
House of the Seven Gables
Mary Ellen Smiley - Basket Weaving
Mary Mangan - Ipswich Lace Maker
Norumbega - Canoe Makers
North Shore CDC
Peabody Essex Museum
Rogue's Armada
Ron Raiseles - Cooper
Salem Sound Coast Watch
Salem United
U.S.S. Constitution Modelers
Food and Drink
Notch and Revelry Food Truck will be at the park selling food and beverages during the festival! Everyone is also welcome to grab takeout from a local restaurant or bring a picnic meal to enjoy at the festival.
