Sturgeon Bay Honors Coast Guard With Maritime Week

The City of Sturgeon Bay will once again honor its rich maritime heritage with a diverse collection of entertaining and fun-filled events Aug. 5 – 13. Officially titled “Sturgeon Bay Maritime Week: A Salute to the U.S. Coast Guard,” the celebration includes many long-standing annual waterfront events along with a growing list of new activities. In addition to focusing on Sturgeon Bay’s extraordinary maritime history, the week honors the area’s local Coast Guard personnel, past and present, for their service and many contributions to the community.

Maritime Week gets underway Aug. 5, 11 am, with a picnic for all active, reserve, retired and veteran Coast Guard personnel and their families.

Michigan Street Bridge. Photo by Steve Reinke.

Aug. 6 brings a new event to the Maritime Week calendar. Adopt-a-Soldier Door County and the Sturgeon Bay Fire Department will host an “all you can eat” breakfast at the firehouse adjacent to City Hall from 7 – 11 am. Following breakfast, there will be a BBQ and benefit concert at Martin Park and the bands Last Man Standing and Copper Box will entertain throughout the afternoon.

The Harmony by the Bay Summer Concert Series continues Aug. 9 at Martin Park. The ever-popular Big Mouth and the Power Tool Horns will entertain. The concert begins at 7 pm and will open with a salute to veterans from all branches of the armed forces.

The Salute to the Coast Guard Golf Outing is Aug. 10. This public golf event celebrates the Coast Guard’s birthday with a fun four-person scramble format at Idlewild Golf Course. Contact the Door County Maritime Museum (DCMM) for an entry form and additional details.

Thursday’s activities also include the “TGIT” Sail Racing at the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club that evening. Contact the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club (920.743.6934) for details.

Maritime Week returns to Martin Park on Aug. 11 with an outdoor screening of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone at dusk.

Aug. 12 & 13 is packed with maritime activities on Sturgeon Bay’s working waterfront. Aug. 12 opens with the first day of the Door County Classic and Wooden Boat Festival on the DCMM grounds. The many activities at the Classic and Wooden Boat Festival blend with the Maritime on Madison celebration. There will be music, store sales and kids’ activities to keep everyone entertained as they stroll Sturgeon Bay’s historic West Side. On the DCMM grounds, dozens of classic boats will be on display. The construction and the decoration phase in the ever-popular Sikaflex Boat Building competition begins Saturday morning. Watch as two-person teams working feverishly with limited lumber and materials to craft a one-of-a-kind boat that will float, hopefully. The grounds open at 9 am.

At the conclusion of Saturday’s activities, head for the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club for their annual Evening on the Bay events Saturday evening, including live music, boat parade and fireworks. All events are open to the public.

Maritime Week wraps up Aug. 13 with the second day of the Door County Classic and Wooden Boat Festival. The “sea trials” of the often less-than-seaworthy Sikaflex Challenge vessels is always the highlight of day two.

Sturgeon Bay’s designation as an official Coast Guard City in 2014 makes the celebration even more special. Sturgeon Bay is one of only 20 communities nationwide to be named a Coast Guard City and is the first, and only, in Wisconsin.