Tens of thousands of pirate fans will overtake the streets of Port Washington, for the fifth annual Port Washington Pirate Festival, Friday, June 5 through Sunday, June 7. The event will be held in and around Rotary Park.
“We are so pleased that a festival we cobbled together in 2005 has grown to be such an enormous event,” said Kimberly McCulloch, chair of Port Washington Festivals, Inc.
The festival brings in an estimated $4.5 million to the local economy with food and gasoline sales, hotels, merchandise and services, according to marketing director Dean Calin.
“When people say they ‘love pirates,’ what they’re saying is that they love the idea of romance and adventure that Hollywood and popular literature have associated with pirates," Calin said. "As early as 1884 Mark Twain wrote about his character Huck Finn, ‘Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates.’ It’s not just the Johnnie Depp fans, there is something about the idea of piracy – seafaring adventure – that engages people.”
This year, the festival has brought in two international maritime music groups, Bounding Main and The Jolly Rogers to perform.
“Maritime music is extremely popular and we were able to bring in two of the best groups in America,” said McCulloch.
The Pirate Festival has gone above and beyond the standard town event by casting and hiring an ensemble group of performers for a “Pirate Invasion” stunt show to begin Saturday at noon.
