40 Years Of A Wild Idea

The Port Townsend Wooden Boat festival is the greatest celebration of wooden boat building in the world.Go at your own risk.

- Mary South

For years I’d wanted to make the trek to the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. So as I squeezed my Mini rental into a tiny spot between the cars crammed on both sides of the sloped road into town, I felt ready. Port Townsend Bay spread like a sparkling welcome mat before the brick Victorian seaport below, and the snow-capped Cascade range rose from the far horizon.

Sunset magazine called Port Townsend, Washington, “the Paris of the Pacific Northwest,” but that seems like unnecessary hyperbole for a place of such unique charm. At the base of the hill, the terrain flattens to the shore and Water Street threads past galleries, gift shops and restaurants, all touting nautical names or touches. The vibe is not Parisian so much as bohemian maritime.

In addition to a modern housewares store, a small gourmet grocery and several hip-looking shops, there are used books, crystals and incense, and vintage collectibles — the town has an old hippie vibe. I was lured into William James Bookseller, a marvelous shop of narrow aisles and floor-to-ceiling shelves, by a savvy window display of nautical books. Ten minutes later I emerged with a copy of a 40-year-old edition on buy boats and a strong sense that I had narrowly missed going home with a suitcase full of books and the need for a new wardrobe. Luckily, the 40th Wooden Boat Festival beckoned.