2026 Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days

Sheyenne Upham, 11, was crowned 2024 Royal Windjammer among the six contestants in the Boothbay’s Got Talent pageant held at Boothbay Region YMCA Sunday, June 23.

Upham performed a modern dance routine to music provided by Emile Mirabile, director of the pageant – one of the first events of the 62nd annual Windjammer Days.

Sheyenne is the daughter of Jessica and Nick Upham.

Other contestants included Violet Baldwin, 10, whose talent was singing; Oscar Mirabile, 7,…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

In the summer of 2007, I found myself adrift – at 20 years old, my drive to become a teacher had faded, and prospects within the field…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

David originally got hooked on sailing in 1959 at age five, cruising in the Herreshoff S boat Widgeon with his family. Then when he was about…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

I never really had an interest in boat building in my younger years, but growing up on Long Island, New York I was always interested in…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

I was fortunate to spend every summer in Round Pond, Maine swimming and boating in the ocean. When I went to the University of Michigan…

The 62nd Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days shifts into high gear Sunday, June 23 with sailboat racing, the Blessing of the Fishing Fleet; and Boothbay's Got Talent, where local youth ages 7-18 compete for the titles of Royal Windjammer and Top Royal. Events culminate with Harbor Aglow, formerly the Lighted Boat Parade. 

What makes this event different is that the lights on pleasure, fishing and commercial tour boats moored in the harbor or at a boat slip are lit prior to the parade…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

I think many of us in the boatbuilding community became boatbuilders because of a passion about boats and boatbuilding and through the…

Don’t miss your chance to set sail on a piece of living history and support a worthy cause! Thanks to the generosity of Canvas + Pine Sailing Expeditions, we’re raffling off a two-hour private sailing charter for six during 2024 Windjammer Days week, June 25 to June 28. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is a curated private sail aboard the Pilot Cutter Hesper, newly owned by East Boothbay sailor Eben Wilson and currently being commissioned for the season at…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

Hi, I'm Fred Bowers. I live here in Alna with my lovely wife Mary and assorted pets and livestock.

First off, I should explain…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

I suspect that my love of boats comes from my mother who had a sailboat which our family used on Long Island Sound for a few years when…

The Bowdoin, the official sailing vessel of Maine, will return to Boothbay Harbor May 25. The crew will set sail May 29 for the Arctic, mirroring the ship’s historic voyages that left from the same Maine waters.

The schooner Bowdoin was built in 1921 by Hodgdon Brothers Shipyard in East Boothbay for explorer and researcher Donald MacMillan to work in the Arctic. Now, Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) owns and operates the vessel, which it acquired in 1988. The vessel was…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

Tony’s career has spanned 50 years. Tony grew up on the south shore of Massachusetts and came to Maine in 1999 around the time he…

Spruce Point Inn and the Maine Model Yacht Club are proud to announce the SPI Cup, a regatta race on the Spruce Point Inn waterfront for skippers of radio-controlled model yachts. Beginning at 9 a.m. Sunday, June 23, this inaugural event kicks off the first day of Boothbay Harbor’s 62nd annual Windjammer Days festivities.

The schedule of activities runs all day long, with two heats of racing, a trophy presentation, and a Learn to R/C Sail demonstration in Spruce Point Inn’s newly…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

Over one hundred vessels have slid down the ways into Linekin Bay out of Paul E. Luke, Inc. boat yard: lobster boats, power cruisers,…

Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days is proud to once again sponsor the Vintage Boat Parade and Pier Party on Friday, June 28. The event starts with the Vintage Boat Parade beginning at 4 p.m. and is a free event.  Watch approximately 40 antique boats circle the harbor in a regal parade of vessels. Announcing of the parade is done from Whale Park.  Following the parade, many of the participating boats will tie up at The Shipyard in Boothbay Harbor/Bristol Marine for the…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

Andy Tyska's career in the marine industry began in Fox Lake, Illinois, where he worked on small boats. His passion for boats and boatbuilding was…

Thanks to the generosity of Canvas + Pine Sailing Expeditions, Boothbay Region Historical Society is raffling a 2-hour private sailing charter for 6 during 2024 Windjammer Days, between June 25 to June 28. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is a curated private sail aboard the Pilot Cutter Hesper, newly owned by East Boothbay sailor Eben Wilson and currently being commissioned for the season at Bristol Marine in Boothbay Harbor.

Hesper is a wooden, 60-foot, gaff-…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

Hodgdon Shipbuilding began in 1816. As I like to say, that is four years before Maine became a state. My career started in 1971 when I…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

I’ve had an appreciation for boats and the sea from a young age. I grew up lobstering on Southport.

In high school, I was an…

What’s a car doing in a Windjammer Days update? Is it a classic beauty that you’ll see in the Street Parade? Could be, but it’s really here to call your attention to a new vintage addition to the Post Vintage Boat Parade Pier Party! That’s right, lovers of all things vintage: 10 cars with local owners will be at Bristol Marine for the party on Friday, June 28 immediately following the parade from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

The lineup of cars for this year’s event was announced at the April 10…

Growing up in the Boothbay region meant there was no escaping the water. From sailing lessons at the local yacht clubs, exploring all the coves of Linekin Bay and Ocean Point, snooping around in the local shipyards, Luke’s, Goudy and Stevens, as well as some afternoons in the scrap pile of Sonny Hodgdon’s second floor shop. Building scale model boats in grammar school was my first boat building experience. Overall, just a love for water and building things has kept me at it. This led me into…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

My “journey “ has had high and low points, but mostly high and at times quite humbling, and most times it has provided a chance for a…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

I was born and raised in Marblehead, Massachusetts where I grew up on the water boating. I learned to sail at an early age as well as…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

My early life was spent around boats in Rhode Island where my father ran a boatyard and later two marine deck machinery manufacturers.…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

Growing up in Bath in the 1940s and early 1950s with a father, uncles and grandfathers working in various capacities at BIW, I was…

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

Skip Orne started boatbuilding when he was young, around 12 or 13 years old. He recalls helping his father, Kenneth Orne, with the…

The lawn of Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library was the place to be on Saturday, July 1 if you were a kid. An old-time carnival with a giant bouncy house was held and fun was had by all! The carnival was a fundraiser for the library’s children’s programming. BHML trustees’ chairperson Marta Peters said just over $1,700 was raised. 

The trustees had been brainstorming ideas for a fundraiser that would be fun for the group the raised funds would be for. Peters suggested a carnival. “I…

On Monday, June 26 Boothbay Harbor Inn hosted the 5th Annual Windjammer Days Crab Cake Cook-Off. Four local restaurants competed for Judge’s Choice and People’s Choice awards. 

This year’s contestants included Robert Bailey representing Boothbay Harbor Inn; Tancy Mitchell, Brady’s Restaurant; Kelly Farrin, The Carriage House…

Mike Rogove out-skipped the competition in the 18th Annual Orne's Candy Store International Rock-Skipping Contest June 29. Rogove, who had the skipper name “Rookie,” skipped a rock 16 times across Boothbay Harbor during the event. He won the men’s division and had the most skips of the day.

Rogove, from Massachusetts, said he is no stranger to rock skipping. He said he habitually skips rocks and even collects them in the back of his car. However, for the competition, he…

The sweet smell of victory was pungent in downtown Boothbay Harbor during the annual Windjammer Days Cod Fish Races June 28. The Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club team, Shmaker’s Bay, successfully defended its 2022 title. 

The team made up of Cyrus Blake, Toby Clarkson, Holden Langenhagen and Theo Crocetti finished in 3:21:76. The Shipyard Squids, from The Shipyard in Boothbay Harbor, took second place in 3:51:45. In third were the Carolina Reapers from North and South…

This year, Friends of Windjammer Days is highlighting the thrilling adventurers members of our community have made over the years. On June 26, the committee hosted a “Meet and Greet” at Boothbay Harbor Oceanside Golf Resort so the public could meet the honored sea captains prior to the dinner celebrating their accomplishments. 

Slime, tattoos and laughter filled Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library Tuesday, June 27 as the library kicked off its kids’ summer reading program during Windjammer Days. Kids of all ages chose pirate names, got passports and prepared for a summer of swashbuckling. 

The Pirates of the Dark Rose took over Whale Park June 27 during Windjammer Days. The crew set up camp and hosted several activities at their Pirate Tortuga bazaar including a puppet show retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island,” kids’ games, and a demonstration of how to fire a cannon. The crew also gave tours of the ship, the Must Roos, or “Dark Rose” in Slavic. In addition, the Shank Painters played sea shanties for the crowd.  

The crew is scheduled…

The early morning rain perhaps kept a few people away, but the annual Windjammer Days breakfast went on in Whale Park on Tuesday, June 27. The event was conducted by Boothbay Harbor Fire Department as firefighters tended the grills and dished out the food for a fundraiser.

Imij Armstead and Adeline Inman were crowned Top Royal and Royal Windjammer, respectively, at the Windjammer Days’ Boothbay’s Got Talent competition held Sunday evening, June 25 at Boothbay Region YMCA.

The Top Royals, ages 13 to 18, featured Armstead and Gigi Blake. The Royal Windjammer contestants, ages 7-12, were Inman, Sheyanne Upham, Lydia Mitchell, Violet Baldwin, Ireland Teele, Kayla Watts, Enilea Burns and Grace Thorton. Directing the competition was Emily Mirabile.

…

The first day of Boothbay Harbor’s Windjammer Days 2023 concluded with a Lighted Boat Parade around the inner harbor. Seven boats, including a local Coast Guard vessel, took part in the colorful event.

Be sure to check out the upcoming schedule of events on our website. Also, the newspaper’s annual Windjammer Days guide is available at Whale Park and at select locations around town.

The sky was blue, the sun sparkled off the water, and about 35 fishing boats took part in the annual Windjammer Days’ Blessing of the Fleet Sunday afternoon, June 25.

Boothbay Harbor Methodist Church lay minister Tammy Judkins and Father Peter Shaba of Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church blessed each boat with holy water and verbally as it passed by the Boothbay Harbor Fish Pier. People on board boats gave a wave up to the pier as they passed by.

Check out more upcoming…

East Boothbay artist Brad Betts has had a connection with the sea, old sailing vessels and maritime scenes. That connection was nurtured during his years growing up on the Gulf coast. Betts has a passion for history, particularly the fishing industry, so it too is a oft visited theme flowing through his works.

One of his recurring subjects is the Ernestina-Morrissey, now at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard for restoration. It has long captured his eye and imagination. As a…

The Friends of Windjammer Days group has completed the 2015 Windjammer Days schedule with all but the entertainment lineup ready to go. Next year's dates are June 21-27.

Windjammer Days has a new logo, in red, white and blue, designed by Dawn Guzzo of Atomic Studios in Boothbay Harbor.

The Friends of Windjammer Days meet the second Tuesday of each month, except December, at the Boathouse Bistro at 5 p.m.

Volunteers are still…

The Friends of Windjammer Days have confirmed the popular spring festival’s dates through the year 2020.

Capt. Pete Ripley released the dates on behalf of the nonprofit group as follows:

Next year, the 53rd annual event: June 21-27 (Tuesday, June 23 through Wednesday, June 24)

2016: 54th annual: June 26-July 2 (Tuesday, June 28 through Wednesday, June 29)

2017: 55th annual: June 25-July 1 (Tuesday, June 27 through Wednesday, June 28)

2018: 56th annual…

Take out your calendars: The dates for the 53rd annual Windjammer Days in Boothbay Harbor will be June 21-27, 2015.

At an Oct. 14 meeting, The Friends of Windjammer Days board and committee members discussed changes to the festival.

Several new events are planned, including a lighted boat parade and a tug-of-war competition.

Kim Gillies is coordinating the boat parade,…

The Friends of Windjammer Days would like to thank the following individuals and groups for their sponsorship and volunteerism that helped to make the 2014 festival a success.

First off, we send a special thank you to the Windjammer captains, the Moore family and Cabbage Island Clambakes and Bill Campbell and his crew at Balmy Days Cruises.

Media sponsors: Maine. The Magazine, the brand company,…

Jackson Gillman will be performing a one-hour performance, entitled “Once Upon a Tide,” as part of “Windjammers for Wee Mateys” at the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, 4 Oak Street in Boothbay Harbor on Tuesday, June 24.

Energy, wit, music and wisdom are the stock in trade of Jackson Gillman, a.k.a. “The Stand-Up Chameleon.” His start as a performer began in 1978 after he graduated from the College of the Atlantic. He spent a summer at the Deck…

The Friends of Windjammer Days is pleased to announce that crowd favorite, the pillaging Pirates of the Dark Rose, will once again entertain the crowds at Windjammer Days with their plundering antics.

The pirates will perform a puppet show and duel on Tuesday, June 24 in the Whale Park, and will be recruiting children and adults of all ages to prepare for a life of piracy through their pirate training, which covers…

Holy pyrotechnics, fireworks fans!

The 52nd Annual Windjammer Days Festival is just a few weeks away, and word is, donations for this year's fireworks display are down. And, considering the changes that have happened with the festival, it's not surprising.

On October 30 last year, the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors announced that the chamber voted in favor of discontinuing sponsorship of the Windjammer Days Festival. Additionally, it would no…

The grand prize in the Windjammer Days raffle is a trip for two aboard Schooner American Eagle. Pete Ripley, board member of Friends of Windjammer Days announced the news early Thursday morning, May 15.

American Eagle Captain John Foss is offering a 3- or 6-day voyage in 2014, when space is available.

Raffle tickets will be available at the Friends of Windjammer Days’ tent in the Whale Park during the 52nd annual festival.

The Windjammer Days…

The Friends of Windjammer Days, the new organizers of the region's largest and longest-running festival, have been working on the 52nd annual celebration since taking over the reins during the winter months. This year the festival dates are June 22 through 28 — one week of events to delight even the most discriminating festival aficionado!

Let's start with the street parade.

…

The Friends of Windjammer Days, organizers of the 52nd Annual Windjammer Days festival, has announced the tall ships that will be at this year's Windjammer Days Festival. The festival will take place June 22-28, with eight windjammers (updated May 8) scheduled to arrive in Linekin Bay on Tuesday, June 24 and then under full sail during the parade of sail on Wednesday, June 25.

Recently recognized as a top 100 event in the country by the American Bus Association for 2014,…

Dianne Gimbel and the Friends of Windjammer Days are gearing up for this year’s Windjammer Days. 

Windjammer Days in Boothbay Harbor has been an annual event for 51 years. The festival, which takes place in June, has been in the hands of the local chamber of commerce since its inception in 1963.

In November 2013, the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce board of directors made the decision to…

The Friends of Windjammer Days are making plans for this year's festival to be held June 22 through 28. In November 2013, the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce board of directors voted to remove the festival from the Chamber's annual events.

To keep the time-honored tradition of the Boothbay region afloat, a new group was formed, The Friends of Windjammer…

The future of Windjammer Days has been decided, at least for the meantime.

On December 17, the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors voted to award the bid to the Friends of Windjammer Days committee.

Mark and Dianne Gimbel met with Chamber board members two days later to discuss taking over the region's summertime festival.

The Gimbels, representing the Friends of Windjammer Days committee, were just one of two organizations who submitted proposals…

The future of the Windjammer Days festival will be decided soon.

The Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce has put out a request for proposals to organizations that may be interested in stewarding the festival, but only one group has submitted a proposal so far.

The Friends of Windjammer Days submitted its proposal outlining a self-sustaining committee under the nonprofit organization of the Chamber.

Chamber's Executive Director Catherine Wygant Fossett said although…

The Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for the management of the 2014 Windjammer Days Festival per the Annual Business Meeting held on October 30.

The board is issuing an RFP to secure an individual, a nonprofit, a committee structure or a management organization to coordinate, promote and execute the 52nd Annual Windjammer Days Festival in 2014 within the given guidelines set…

Dear Editor:

Windjammer Days can be saved. My first experience was in the summer of 1974. As recent transplant from West Hartford, Conn., I attended the 1974 Windjammer Days as a special guest of customers of mine for the Maine Boat Show, Pierce Marine. In the spring of 1976, I served as chairman of the Windjammer Committee and previously co-chairman the year before.