BELFAST — Belfast Rotary Club’s 17th annual Harbor Fest will fill the Belfast waterfront from Friday evening, Aug. 16 through Sunday, Aug. 18. The three-day celebration of the city’s maritime history and traditions launches Friday evening with “Evening by the Bay,” a gala with live and silent benefit auction at the United Farmers Market building on Spring Street in Belfast.

The free weekend event continues Saturday morning with a 5K road race and blueberry pancake breakfast, followed by free tours of the Front Street Shipyard and a Come Boating! rowing regatta. All-day festivities will include live music, food vendors, crafts and local organization booths, a Coast Guard safety exhibit, children’s activities and a Pinewood Derby wooden car race sponsored by the Katahdin Council of Boy Scouts.

Sunday morning features the famous Cardboard Boat Races sponsored by Front Street Shipyard, complete with the always popular “Best Sinking” award, setting off from the Boat House beach. Sunday and the Festival conclude with Habitat for Humanity’s lobster bake.

“Belfast Harbor Fest is back, bigger and better than ever,” said the Rotary Club event’s chairperson Russell Werkman, CEO of the Waldo County Y, in a news release. “There will be a boatbuilding demonstration as always, and Marshall Wharf will be hosting a beer tent. Harbor Fest is a celebration for Belfast and anyone who is here during the event. Rotary thinks everyone will have a very good time.”

“Evening By the Bay,” with live and silent auctions, begins at 5:30 p.m., at the United Farmers Market, sponsored by the Market, City of Belfast, Mathews Brothers, Ducktrap River of Maine, Bell the Cat and other local donors. Proceeds from this year’s auction will support a new, accessible $200,000 playground to be built at City Park by next summer as a “Legacy Project” to celebrate the Belfast Rotary Club’s 100 years of service to the community. The auctions will feature restaurant and experiential gift certificates, and artwork including Belfast painter Jerri Finch’s original oil painting “Glow,” the 2024 Harbor Fest’s chosen graphic.

The Rotary Club’s Werkman thanked the event’s dozens of sponsors, exhibitors, vendors and boatbuilding participants, including major sponsors City of Belfast, Front Street Shipyard, First National Bank, United Farmers Market, Mathews Brothers, Stanley Chevrolet Buick, Waldo County General Hospital, Bangor Savings Bank, Viking Lumber, Robbins Lumber Company, Hammond Lumber, K Construction, Cold Mountain Builders, Penobscot Bay Tractor Tug Co., Viking Lumber, J Black Printing, Cornerspring Montessori School, Ducktrap River of Maine, Senior Planning Center, Consumers Fuel, Belfast Community Co-Op and Waldo County YMCA.

For more information about Harbor Fest, go to belfastharborfest.com.

Belfast Rotary Club, founded in 1925, is one of Maine’s largest and most active clubs. Its members meet Wednesdays at noon at the Shrine Club in Belfast. The Club raises funds year-round through activities such as the Belfast Harbor Fest, annual charitable golf tournament event, 5K road races and pancake breakfasts. Its more than $150,000 in yearly gifts include support for area food pantries, year-end holiday clothing and toys to 200 children and $80,000 in scholarships for local college-bound high school students. For more information on membership or to make a tax-deductible donation in support of the Club’s year-round service programs, go to belfastrotary.org.