Belfast Rotary Club’s annual Belfast Harbor Fest, the club’s three-day community celebration of Belfast’s waterfront heritage, was one of the most successful in the 17-year history of the event.

“What a weekend! Harbor Fest brought out the best in Belfast this year,” said event coordinator Russell Werkman, Belfast Rotary member and CEO of the Waldo County YMCA. “We estimate nearly 2,000 people attended or participated, including 200 who enjoyed Friday’s Evening by the Bay gala and auction, 500 at Sunday morning’s Cardboard Boat Races, more than 200 who enjoyed the Saturday morning blueberry pancake breakfast and another 135 5K road racers who made the “5K Bug Run” the largest ever. At least 1,000 kids, parents, Belfast residents and summer visitors filled Steamboat Landing on Saturday. They enjoyed live music, food and a beer tent, built a model boat or raced a model car, went on free Front Street Shipyard tours, and learned from Dory Woman Rowing’s Nicolle Letrell about the working history of the dory design.”

Werkman added, “This successful effort was made possible, in large part, by the generosity of Evening by the Bay gala and auction attendees, and by more than 50 club and in-kind Belfast Harbor Fest sponsors.” Those sponsors include the City of Belfast, Front Street Shipyard, Ducktrap River of Maine, Stanley Chevrolet, Viking Lumber, Cold Mountain Builders, First National Bank, Mathews Brothers, Penobscot Bay Tractor Tug Co., Varney Agency, Belfast Community Co-Op, Coastwise Realty, State Farm Insurance, Bangor Savings Bank, The Republican Journal (now Midcoast Villager), United Farmers Market, Bell the Cat, Cornerspring Montessori School, J Black Printing, and the Waldo County YMCA.

According to Werkman, the event raised nearly $40,000 for Rotary Club projects, including the club’s 100-year celebration Legacy Project. This will be a $200,000 new, accessible playground that will be built next year in Belfast City Park. The Club is already planning for the 18th annual Belfast Harbor Fest, set for August 15, 16 and 17, 2025.

Belfast Rotary Club, founded in 1925, is one of midcoast Maine’s largest and most active clubs. Its nearly 70 members meet Wednesdays at noon at Belfast’s Shrine Club. The Club’s funds, raised year-round through activities such as the Belfast Harbor Fest, a charitable golf tournament, 5K road races and pancake breakfasts, help generate more than $150,000 in yearly gifts, with additional community giving planned for 2025’s playground centennial Legacy Project. Rotary supports area food pantries, year-end holiday clothing and toys to more than 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.