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Shipbuilding History on Display

Marsha Meissner, wife of Rotarian Greg Meissner, led a group at Bay Shipbuilding during the chilly 2013 shipyard tour. It was her third year leading shipbuilding tours.

Back in the early 1990s the Rotary Club of Sturgeon Bay had a great idea to boost its fundraising efforts for scholarships and other community service programs conducted by Rotary Youth Interact, an international service organization for teenagers ages 14-18 – a walking tour of the Sturgeon Bay shipbuilders.

On Saturday, May 3, the 22nd Annual Sturgeon Bay Shipyard Tours will be held, and the Sturgeon Bay Rotarians are hoping that despite a weather forecast that calls for 40 percent chance of rain, the 700 to 800 people who take the tour each year will still come, because as Julie Wilson, co-chair of the event, said, “Rain or shine, we’ll be out there.”

Wilson said the tour appeals to people far beyond Door County because she has fielded calls and emails from people in other parts of the country who want to know more about the tour.

“I think the reason the tour is so popular, people don’t have the opportunity to see the shipyards otherwise,” Wilson said. “I don’t think a lot of people realize we’ve built military vessels and we repair so many lake vessels.”

“One of the big draws is Bay Shipbuilding because it deals with so many lake freighters, the large 1,000-foot ships. Bay Shipbuilding is one of the premier repair facilities in the Great Lakes area, one of the few that can handle the large freighters that traverse the Great Lakes,” said tour co-chair Keith Mutchler. “Unfortunately, they’re usually gone before the shipyard tour, so we get a lot of suggestions about pushing it back, which weather-wise wouldn’t work, or pulling it forward, which bumps into so many other events in Door County.”

None of this could be done without the assistance of the shipbuilding companies, Mutchler pointed out.

“The companies have been so gracious to open their doors,” he said. “Last year we had in excess of 800 guests. All the proceeds stay in a charitable fashion in Door County. Our overhead is very little. We print some booklets and buy some concession materials. Very little handling costs associated with the event at all.”

The Bay Shipbuilding leg of the tour takes on extra fascination because volunteers who are either former or current employees of the shipyard man the various stations.

“These guys are so engaging and so proud of being able to come back and represent that sometimes we kind of have to remind them there are a lot of people standing in line and we have to keep moving here,” Mutchler said.

Guided walking tours are offered at Bay Shipbuilding and CenterPointe Yacht Services LLC. A self-guided walking tour had been planned at Palmer Johnson Yachts, but weather concerns have forced them to pull out of this year’s tour.

Coach bus transportation will be provided between tour sites.

The United States Coast Guard will open their 140-foot USCG cutter Mobile Bay for guided tours free of charge at the Graham Park dock in Sturgeon Bay, also from 9 am to 2 pm.

New this year the rescue vessel from the Sturgeon Bay Canal Station of the Coast Guard will be available for tours at Graham Park.

Also this year, with purchase of a Shipyard Tour ticket, attendees are eligible to receive 50 percent off on the admission to the Door County Maritime Museum during the Shipyard Tour weekend. This also includes access to the restored tug, John Purves. For more information on the Door County Maritime Museum, see dcmm.org.

Tickets will be available at all three shipyard entry gates on the day of the event. Ticket prices are $12 per adult and $6 for students ages 11-17. Guests age 10 and below are free.