Four Must-Do's at a Tall Ship Festival
Tall ship festivals can be visited throughout various ports in the Great Lakes region. In 2022 tall ship festival Festival Sail made its first return as an event since 2019 and made a visit to the Jackson Pier in Sandusky. Here are four must-do’s while visiting Sandusky, OH for the Festival of Sail:
Tour a Ship
The main attraction at Festival of Sail is touring the replicated historical ships. Ships may change from port to port and year to year but the two that were at the 2022 Festival of Sail were the Nao Trinidad and U.S. Brig Niagara.
Captain of the US Brig Niagara William Sabatini has a passion for educating both visitors of the ship and the crew.
“The professional crew will come on usually for about six months, is roughly the season. We’ll crew up in April or May and people stay on until about September or October” Captain Sabatini said.
Scene from Finding Festivals
Take a Selfie with “Mama Duck”
You may have seen the World’s Largest Rubber Duck on social media or even television. Ryan Whaley is the co-owner of “Mama Duck” and has been fascinating crowds all throughout the nation. When asked where this idea came from he said “ It’s a funny story. There was a tall ships fest like this [Festival of Sail] in L.A. in 2012. The folks that were helping produce the event were like ‘ok we got the talk ships but we need something even bigger.’ And so we brainstormed a little bit and were like ‘let’s build the world’s largest rubber duck.’ And of course, they thought we were crazy; I mean if you are part of this you are probably a little crazy.”
Listen to Music
How often do you get to delight in a maritime folk song? Spend some time listening to the live music; the songs are both historical and rich in storytelling.
Scene from Finding Festivals
Visit the Merry-Go-Round-Museum
Take a break from the heat and tour the Merry-Go-Round-Museum in air conditioning. From learning how the sculptures are made to where specific pieces have been the Merry-Go-Round Museum provides a unique take on art and history. Plus, you can fulfill your child-like wander and take a ride on the carousel which is a must in my book.
“Watching people’s faces light up when they ride the carousel is one of the highlights of my day” Gift Shop Manager and Volunteer Coordinator, Bonnie Behm said.
Scene from Finding Festivals
Tall ship festivals like Festival of Sail can be experienced at different ports along the Great Lakes and Sandusky Ohio. Festival of Sail is a celebration of fun, full friendly shipmates and has great panoramic views of Lake Erie.
Festival of Sail is featured on Finding Festivals broadcasting on PBS affiliate WGTE. Finding Festivals is in need of your support which can be contributed here. Special thank you to Shores and Islands Ohio for helping make Festival of Sail of this season of Finding Festivals possible.
Finding Festivals is produced by HayRobin Media Productions LLC.
Special thank you to Dead Shark Productions LLC (film crew), Troy Poling (motion graphics in Finding Festivals ) and Micheal Desanto (Finding Festivals Logo).
The first four episodes were made possible in part by sponsor Shores and Islands Ohio, in-kind donations and monetary donations made by supporters of the series.