Oh, what, you still don’t have something to do this weekend? Lucky for you, the Wooden Boat Festival ^[1] is also happening, at the Center for Wooden Boats in South Lake Union.

This festival really is so much fun. Tons of people with wooden boats tie up to the dock and most of them invite the public to come in and take a look. The kids can build a toy boat or have a treasure hunt, and there will be demonstrations of salty activities like rig tuning and knot tying. People will be building boats and racing boats and the Arthur Foss will be open for exploring.

They also give free boat rides of all kinds around in Lake Union, and it was definitely a highlight of my 4th of July last year to be sailing around among all of the people who had parked their boats to catch a view of the fireworks. Everyone on the water was friendly; it was one big floating party.

If that’s not enough seaworthy excitement for you, there will also be a Chantey Sing ^[2] happening on the Adventuress from 8:00 to 10:00 on the night of Friday, the 3rd. Chanteys aren’t that hard to learn–you’ll be singing along in no time.

The Chantey Sing is free. So is the Wooden Boat Festival, although the suggested donation is $5/person or $10/family.