The Port Washington Chamber of Commerce and the Town of North Hempstead will be presenting the 27th annual HarborFest Dock Day and Craft Festival on Sunday, June 4. All events officially begin at 10 a.m. at the town dock, Baxter’s Pond and lower Main Street. Admission is free and there will be free parking at the train station and Manorhaven Park. The Admiral Sponsor of HarborFest is Anton Media Group.
A big attraction is the HarborFest Craft Show featuring more than 90 quality craftspeople. Their booths will be located along lower Main Street, near the town dock. The Craft Fair is sponsored by Blank Slate Media and Home Run Electric. Another attraction along Main Street is Art In The Park, sponsored and organized by The Art Guild. It features local artists displaying their work in Sunset Park, along the Manhasset Bay waterfront. They will also have a free Plein Air Workshop for adults at 1:30 p.m. and a free Clay Workshop for children at 12 p.m. Button making will be offered throughout the day.
As soon as you enter the dock, look for the Chamber of Commerce booth and the Town of North Hempstead booth near the entrance. Both locations will be giving out free reusable shopping bags for all your HarborFest purchases and future shopping. The chamber’s bags are sponsored by the Port Washington Water Taxi. Additional bags have been donated by Stop & Shop.
Everyone is excited that the three-masted schooner SoundWaters will return to Manhasset Bay for HarborFest. On Saturday, June 3, the SoundWaters will depart the town dock for a Sunset Sail from 6 to 8 p.m. During HarborFest Dock Day, on Sunday, June 4, SoundWaters will set sail at 12, 2 and 4 p.m. Reservations for all sails may be made online at www.harborfestcruises.eventbrite.com. The cost for the Sunset Sail is $35 per person, all ages. The cost for the Sunday Dock Day sails is $25 for adults and $15 for children ages 5 to 12. Please note that children under 5 should not participate in the cruises. Founded in 1989, SoundWaters’ mission is to educate children and adults about the wonders and beauty of Long Island Sound and its watershed.
There are several other ways that people can see up close how beautiful the bay truly is. Port Washington’s Water Taxi will be available to take people on scenic cruises throughout HarborFest. New to HarborFest this year is the ship Avalon, which will be available for Bay cruises narrated by docents from the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society. The Avalon is sponsored by LI Boat Rentals. For the more adventurous, Atlantic Outfitters will offer free kayaking.
A highly anticipated event is the demonstration of the Port Washington Fire Department’s Fire Boat. It will be moored at the town dock for HarborFest and the demonstrations are sure to be exciting for all the festival goers.
Many lucky visitors can catch a free ride on the picturesque North Fork Trolley, sponsored by the Greater Port Washington Business Improvement District (BID). The trolley will make a continuous loop from the train station to the festival area.
The HarborFest Model Boat Regatta program has Chamber of Commerce volunteers teaching third-graders from all Port Washington elementary schools how to make catamaran-style boats from recycled materials. Registration for participants takes place at Baxter’s Pond at 9:15 a.m. for Sousa and Daly, at 10 a.m. for Guggenheim and Salem, and at 10:30 a.m. for Manorhaven and St. Peter’s. The Regatta races will take place from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Marian Weissman organized the classroom sessions. Bill Palafox, Mary Lu Dempsey Palafox, Hank Brakman and Joan Brakman helped to put the boat kits together. Bill Palafox and Laura Silver McGuire will organize the races. Other key team members are Holly Byrne, Fred Hsu, Tom Scalice and Paul Schrynemakers. The Regatta’s T-shirt sponsor is the Port Washington Public Library Foundation—Tepper Intergenerational Program. Regatta benefactors are the Baxter’s Pond Foundation and the Nautical Advisory Committee of the Port Washington Public Library. Major sponsors are Atlantic Outfitters, Center Island Contracting, Knights of Columbus Council 1227, Laffey Real Estate, the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, North Shore Yacht Club, and the Port Washington Yacht Club. Additional financial support is received from many Chamber of Commerce members.
The popular HarborFest Family Fun Park is sponsored by Sandata Technologies and organized by The Parent Resource Center (PRC) and the Chamber of Commerce. Visit the PRC Fun Tent, which always delights the children with fabulous games and crafts. This year the PRC has added a train ride in the Fun Park. The PRC activities are sponsored by North Shore Day Camp and Whole Foods Market Manhasset. Also in the Family Fun Park, the Science Museum of Long Island will offer hands-on fun with a touch tank, the New York Islanders will bring a Slap Shot game and the Mad Science booth will let kids make their own Goo. Plus, a dozen other local organizations and businesses will have games, sports activities, science fun and crafts so the kids will never get bored.
The Fun Park also features free family entertainment all day on the Family Fun Stage. The children’s entertainment will kick off at 10 a.m. with Mrs. Meltzer’s Kindergarten class saying the Pledge of Allegiance and singing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and “America the Beautiful.” At 10:10 a.m., Port’s own Sarah Mannix will sing “The Star Spangled Banner.” Then at 10:15 a.m., the much-anticipated Talented Kids of Port Washington Show will begin. After the Talent Show, at 12:15 p.m., Bach To Rock will take the stage. At 12:45 p.m., the Olga Berest Dancers will perform. At 1:15 p.m., Voice Academy will entertain. At 1:45 p.m., there will be a performance by Danceworks NY Studio. At 2:15 p.m., Shining Studios will perform selections from Spelling Bee. Starting at 3:15 p.m., iSchool of Music will present “The Bands of HarborFest.” The Family Fun Stage is sponsored by Camp Jacobson, Diane’s Place Hair Salon, Healthy Kids Pediatrics and Little Smiles of Port Washington.
The unique HarborFest Treasure Hunt, organized and sponsored by Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, will be back with fabulous prizes from local merchants and special gifts for all. Children can go to participating businesses from May 20 to June 3 and say the “secret message” to get a voucher for a chance to find the lucky key to the Treasure Chest. (“One if by land, two if by sea, I’ll say ‘please’ for a chance for the key.”) They can bring their vouchers to the Treasure Hunt booth on the dock anytime from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. during Dock Day.
On the town dock, there will be dozens of local merchants and organizations offering fine shopping and browsing, demonstrations, activities, giveaways, services and information. As always, a main attraction will be HarborFest’s Fabulous Food Court. Port’s finest restaurants and organizations will present their specialties to feed the hungry crowds. There will be tasty selections from Ayhan’s Shish Kebab, LI Festival Catering, the Manhasset Bay Sportsmen’s Club, Port Youth Activities, Rosie’s Food Truck, the Schmear, The Wild Goose and Yummy Gyro. For sweet treats you will find delicious choices from Long Island Kettle Corn, Ralph’s Italian Ices and The Schmear. Everyone in Port knows Mel’s Ice Cream truck. Look for Mel’s in Sunset Park, by the Art in the Park exhibits. Come hungry—you can feast all day at HarborFest.
HarborFest will showcase free live entertainment in front of the “Pride of Cow Bay” Tugboat Museum at the entrance to the dock. Harmony Sky will get everyone in the mood for fun with the opening act at 10:15 a.m. HarborFest’s popular nautical singers, Stout, will return to perform their rousing melodies at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Martial arts will take center stage with a World Tae Kwon Do demonstration at 12 p.m. Don’t miss the Wright Brothers Ukelele Performance at 1:30 p.m. The talented cast of the Red Stocking Revue will perform several fabulous numbers from Port’s favorite variety show, beginning at 2 p.m. The HarborFest entertainment is sponsored by I Love Hearing (formerly Port Washington Hearing) and Sherwin-Williams.
The mission of HarborFest is to promote environmental awareness and the HarborFest Committee offers free booths to organizations that promote the environment. There will be fascinating new hands-on demonstrations, special displays about Manhasset Bay and up-to-date information and products, all sponsored by A.A. Madison Taxi, Manorhaven Taxi and Port Washington Taxi.
As part of the environmental awareness mission of HarborFest, the Town of North Hempstead Office of Sustainability will have a prominent booth near the dock entrance to give out important information for all residents. Look for their bottle recycling bins for disposal of plastic water bottles.
Grassroots Environmental Education has organized a timely environmental education project that will tackle the issue of keeping our water free from pesticides.
The project is called “I Love Long Island.” It will involve the fifth-graders from all of Port Washington’s elementary schools. Look for their fascinating exhibit in the Enviro-Expo section.
Grassroots Environmental Education, a Port Washington-based nonprofit, has designed the project and worked with the children. The project is sponsored by Newsday Media Group and the Sands Point Conservancy.
HarborFest’s Port Hole Pete will be at the helm of the Pride of Cow Bay Nautical Museum, where a new exhibit, “The Real Port Washington,” will be unveiled. The exhibit was curated by Debbie Greco (Greco Integrated Communications) and contains spectacular photos of the Port Washington waterfront taken by local photographers who posted them on the Facebook group “The Real Port Washington.” You can view the exhibit through the tugboat’s portholes. It will be on display throughout the coming year, beginning at HarborFest. This year’s exhibit is sponsored by Inform Fitness and Strong’s Marine. The bright red tugboat has been spruced up by Richie Garofalo of Anthony’s World of Floors. Garofalo is one of the original creators of the Pride of Cow Bay Museum.
HarborFest is made possible by the Town of North Hempstead, the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce and the Admiral Sponsorship of Anton Media Group. In addition to all the sponsors mentioned above, other HarborFest sponsors are: Apple & Eve, Anthony’s World of Floors, Austin F. Knowles, Inc. Funeral Home, Bendix Engineering, Blue Ribbon Travel, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Dance Arts Centre, Danceworks NY, Dime Community Bank, Dolphin Books, Falun Dafa Exercises, Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa, Happy Montessori School, Hilton Garden Inn, In Focus Eyewear, LASIK Vision Institute, Newsday Home Delivery, Port Washington Calendar, Port Washington Federal Credit Union, Renewal by Anderson, Roslyn Savings Bank—a Division of NYCB, Dr. Glen Ruben & Dr. Alec Ganci, St. Francis Hospital, Sylvan Learning Center, Tiny Sparkles Pediatric Dentistry, Toms Point Marina, the Port Washington Police Benevolent Association and Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Manhasset.
The Chamber of Commerce gives special thanks to The Art Guild, Ayhan’s Mediterranean Marketplace, CancerCare’s “Red Stocking Revue,” Grassroots Environmental Education, Nassau County, North Shore Vision—Dr. Scott Weil, Panera Bread, the Parent Resource Center, the Port Washington Fire Department, the Port Washington Police District, the Port Washington Water Pollution Control District, The Schmear Bakery and Market, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth, Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Dina DeGiorgio, Town of North Hempstead Highway Dept., Town of North Hempstead Dept. of Parks and Recreation, Town of North Hempstead Office of Sustainability, and the Village of Baxter Estates.
Admission to HarborFest is free. There is free parking and free town shuttle buses and a BID trolley at the LIRR station and Manorhaven Park. For additional information about HarborFest, call the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce at 516-883-6566, email office@pwcoc.org, visit www.pwcoc.org and www.pwguide.com or visit the chamber on Facebook.
