Camden Windjammer Festival
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The Camden Windjammer Festival is a community-led celebration of Camden's maritime heritage and living traditions.
Camden Windjammer Festival
WHERE
Camden Harbor, Camden, ME
WHEN
Held annually, Labor Day weekend in September.
Camden Windjammer Festival Photos
Festivities throughout the weekend include live music, nautical activities, demonstrations, boat parade and fireworks. Events occur at the Public Landing, at the Harbor and Harbor Park and Downtown Camden
Camden Windjammer Festival - Camden, Maine
The Camden Windjammer Festival is an annual celebration of Camden’s maritime heritage and tradition. Sailing ships have always helped to define the Camden community, and during Camden Windjammer Weekend, the community says thank you by celebrating these majestic sailing vessels.
Camden has been called the windjammer capital of the world. During the nineteenth century, Camden’s harbor was full of schooners, sloops, and scows year-round. The sailing vessels were major modes of transportation at that time. Then along came the steamship, and it seemed as if the sailing ships had lost their place in the seafaring world. Except that Camden’s own Frank Swift thought otherwise. He started a small, humble business called Maine Windjammer Cruises and offered sailing expeditions to people who wanted a fun and scenic adventure. One of his original schooners still sails out of Camden today under her original name: Grace Bailey.
Swift sold his business, but his legacy is alive and well. Eighty years after he started his business, Camden is still a hub of windjammers. In celebration of Camden’s heritage, of Swift’s genius, and in an attempt to attract even more people to the love of windjammers, the Camden Windjammer Festival was born..
Each and every Labor Day Weekend, thousands of people travel to Camden for a few days “jam” packed with events. The festival kicks off with the awe-inspiring arrival of the windjammers. This is followed by a plethora of activity: maritime heritage fair, contra dance, fireworks, auction, pancake breakfast, lobster crate race, chowder challenge, free concerts, schooner crew talent show, boat race, family scavenger hunt and outdoor movies. The festival wraps up with a boat parade and closing event.
