Business & Tech

Selectmen Ready for 'Marblehead Maritime Week'

Marblehead will host its first ever 'Marblehead Maritime Festival' this summer.

In preparation for the first ever Marblehead Maritime Festival this summer, the Board of Selectmen unanimously approved designating the second week in August as "Maritime Week" at their meeting at Wednesday night.

On hand to discuss the festival, which will run from Aug 3. to Aug. 12, were Executive Director Ann Marie Casey and Wayne George, both of whom said they'd like to see the celebration become an annual town event.

"We hope this is something that will eventually become an exciting new tradition for Marblehead," George said, adding, "this could be a great way to reconnect our town with its rich maritime history."

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George told Selectmen he hoped the festival would help Marblehead business owners take full advantage of the same maritime history that has made similar events so successful in other North Shore communities.

"I spend a lot of my time over the summer sailing in and out of coastal communities and it's always with a great sense of loss at opportunity that I come home from these events, as someone who loves Marblehead, knowing that (other communities) don't have nearly the rich maritime history that Marblehead does," George said.

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So, in an effort to "fully leverage the horse-power of our maritime history, past, present and future," George said he began approaching members of the local business community and found that "everyone was unanimously enthusiastic about getting this idea off the ground."

Planned Festival Events:

  • 100th Anniversary of Marine Corps Aviation
  • Garden Tours at the Jeremiah Lee Mansion
  • Maritime Exhibits at

In addition to the more prominent events listed above, organizers hope to offer outdoor live music and are arranging to have several boats available to taxi visitors around the harbor.

The idea, George said, is to "bring people who are downtown out into the water and bring people out on the water into town."

Casey shared George's enthusiasm for the event and told Selectmen she expected the festival would give the local business community a "real boost" at a crucial point of the summer season.

"We're hoping this will bring a lot more folks into Marblehead and I think everyone would agree that our business community could use a little injection like that," Casey said. "Everyone down at the waterfront is really psyched about this and we are all ready to get going."


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