The Belfast Rotary Club Invites You to Celebrate the Boating Traditions of

Belfast, Maine

Friday through Sunday, August 13-15, 2021

Steamboat Landing & Heritage Park
Front Street between Main & Commercial Street (34 Commercial Street)
Belfast, Maine 049153-

Belfast Rotary Donation
USD

Due to concerns about the Covid-19 Delta Variant there will be no Pancake Breakfast at this year's Harbor Fest

BELFAST ROTARY CLUB’S HARBOR FEST SET FOR AUGUST 13-15

Harbor Fest, Belfast Rotary Club’s free three-day celebration of the city’s maritime history and traditions on Friday, Aug. 13 through Sunday, Aug. 15, will provide a boatbuilding competition, entertainment, food, a rowing regatta, shipyard tours, a cardboard boat race and more at the Belfast waterfront.

“After a year off in response to public safety regulations, Belfast Harbor Fest is back with its Maine Bicentennial edition,” said long-time event chairperson Duke Marston. “This is the fourteenth celebration,” he added, “and we’ve learned a thing or three. Instead of a big tent, we’ll have smaller pavilions for each of the National Boatbuilding Challenge teams, and there may be a smaller children’s area. But people coming down to the waterfront are guaranteed a good time. There will be a Friday night auction to benefit the Waldo County Pet Food Pantry, ~~our famous Saturday morning blueberry pancake breakfast~~, the popular 5K “Bug Run,” music, food trucks, the Come Boating! regatta and tours of Front Street Shipyard. And Sunday morning the Cardboard Boat Race, complete with “Best Sinking” prize, will cap off a weekend of fun.”

The art chosen as the graphic theme for this year’s Harbor Fest is “Last Light of Day,” an original work by Belfast artist and gallery owner Joanne Parent. Parent has generously donated the work, with a value of $2,800, to the “Evening by the Bay Online Auction” which will be held August 13 to 15. The internet-hosted auction, which kicks off the weekend waterfront celebration, will benefit the Waldo County Pet Food Pantry.

Marston thanked the dozens of sponsors, exhibitors, vendors and boatbuilding participants, with special mention of major sponsors First National Bank, First National Wealth Management, Front Street Shipyard, City of Belfast, Nordic Aquafarms and the Maine Bicentennial Commission. “An event this large takes a village, and Belfast area people have really come through after a rough year,” he said.

Belfast Rotary Club, founded in 1925, is one of Maine’s largest and most active clubs. Its members meet in person or by Zoom Wednesdays at noon at the Shrine Club in Belfast. The Club raises funds year-round through activities such as the Belfast Harbor Fest, annual charitable golf tournament event, 5K road races and pancake breakfasts. Its nearly $135,000 in yearly gifts include support for seven food pantries, year-end holiday clothing and toys to 150 children and $80,000 in scholarships for local college-bound high school students. For more information on membership or to make a tax-deductible donation in support of the Club’s year-round service programs, go to belfastrotary.org.

JOANNE PARENT ARTWORK SELECTED AS BELFAST ROTARY’S HARBOR FEST GRAPHIC

The Belfast Rotary Club has chosen “Last Light of Day,” an original oil painting by Belfast artist and gallery owner Joanne Parent, as the visual theme for the Club’s mid-August Bicentennial edition of Belfast Harbor Fest. The stunning image of schooner, sea and sky, in gold, blue, deep brown and a myriad of sunset colors, is of a quiet sea and vessel in Belfast Harbor. The image will appear in Harbor Fest publicity and posters, and on the event’s mugs, t-shirts and tote bags. Parent has donated the original 24” by 30” painting, with a value of $2,800, to the Rotary Club’s “Evening by the Bay” online auction (August 13 to August 15), to benefit the Waldo County Pet Food Pantry.

“Anytime you look at the ocean,” says Parent, “rest assured that the ocean is in fact looking back at you.” Her fine art “beckons you to contemplate the endless possibilities of nature, a true story of wind and paint. Art, like nature, is a subjective medium. Nobody can deny the ethereal experience of a low winter sunset, or the colors that accompany the fragile introduction of storm clouds meeting the sun on canvas.”

Joanne Parent is co-owner of the Parent Gallery at the corner of Maine and High Streets in Belfast. She is the daughter of Linda and Neal Parent, and came to Belfast with her when she was eight years old. She began drawing pencil portraits under the guidance of her artist/photographer father, and learned at an early age about the balance between lightness and darkness. A graduate of Belfast High School and winner of the State of Maine Art Competition as a student there, Joanne attended Maine College of Art after ten years of seafaring worldwide (including Majorca and French Polynesia) as a deckhand, chef, scuba diver and surfer, and holds a captain’s license.

Back in Belfast, she and her father opened the Parent Gallery, which showcases her fine art and Neal’s black and white photographs. She lives with her husband in an off-grid timber frame home on a pond in mid coast Maine, where she works in her studio to create seascapes and landscapes which are shown in a number of distinguished galleries along the east coast.

For more information about Joanne Parent, go to www.joanneparentart.com. For information about donating to the “Evening by the Bay” online auction and bidding on “Last Light of Day” and other auction items, go to charityauction.bid/belfastharborfest or contact Sue Beemer at 332-5800 or susanbeemer48@gmail.com.

Some Highlights from the earlier Harbor Fests (click on links below):

Evening by the Bay Charity Auction

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this year’s auction will be held online. The auction recipient this year is the Waldo County Pet Food Pantry. More information.

Featured 2021 Artist: Joanne Parent

5K Bug Run/Walk

Click HERE for the 2021 Bug Run Results

Click HERE for the 2021 Bug Run Results by Age Group

In Maine, we refer to lobsters as bugs. The winner of the 5K Bug Run/Walk gets 20 lbs of lobsters or bugs. For details click on More Information

Pancake Breakfast

Due to concerns about the Covid-19 Delta Variant, there will be no Pancake Breakfast.

Breakfast beside the Belfast Harbor. Served in the Boat House at Steamboat Landing from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 14. Free pancake breakfast for the 5K runners! Sponsored by Downeast Credit Union. More Information

National Boat Building Challenge

Build a boat in four hours at Steamboat Landing on Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., August 14, then launch it and win the relay race at 4 p.m.! All materials and directions are provided. For 2021 there is NO Entry Fee. Put together a team of two, challenge your colleagues or competitors, bring your power tools, and have a good time! No experience needed! More Information

Ongoing Activities

Music

Listen to local and regional groups and individuals!

Tap your toes and clap your hands to the musicians who will perform in the Steamboat Landing Gazebo all day on Saturday, August 14. More Information

Food

Vendors serve up a variety of local food and drink!
Nosh your way through a variety of food vendors on Saturday.

Kid’s Activities

Saturday, August 14, 2021. Enjoy fun activities for the kids!

Touch Tank, Corn hole, Life-size Jenga, Touch-a-Truck, Plinko game, Mask making, Bubble Station
And more….

Front Street Shipyard Tours

Saturday, August 14, 2021, at 11:00 AM and Noon. Tours start at the shipyard, 101 Front Street, Belfast Maine. View Map

Classic Boat Show

Commercial and Amateur entries vying to win the Best in Show trophy on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021, at Steamboat Landing. More Information

Come Boating! 20th Annual Regatta

Cheer on the Belfast Come Boating! teams as they compete with regional teams in the Come Boating! Regatta.
The event is open to all oared and paddled boats. This year the race will be approximately 4 miles long

Online registration is available at the Come Boating! website
Please register BEFORE August 4, 2021.

The race starts at 12 noon on Saturday. In-person sign-up is required between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. on the day of the regatta. The race is open to 6 oared pilot gigs, 4 oared boats, and all other one and two-person rowed or paddled craft.

– Harbor Rows will be available on Sunday from 10 to 4. Anyone interested should come to the ComeBoating! tent near the Boat House to sign up. Minors must have a written waiver signed by a parent or guardian.

Barbecue Dinner

For 2021, there will not be a BBQ Dinner due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Cardboard Boat Challenge

Sunday, August 15, 2021, Fire up your creativity put a team together and build a cardboard boat! Challenge your colleagues, your competitors, your neighbors and have some fun building and racing a cardboard boat. Win the trophy for the most spectacular sinking! More Information

Habitat for Humanity Lobster Gala

Due to the Covid-19 Delta Variant spread in Waldo County, Habitat for Humanity has decided to cancel this year’s Lobster Gala.