The Chesapeake Cowboys’ competitive boat-docking performances captivate spectators all over the Bay, but nearly all of the annual contests take place south of the Bay Bridge. This month for the first time, well-known pro boat dockers will compete all the way up at the mouth of the Susquehanna River.
Havre de Grace is throwing its first-ever Extreme Boat Dockin’ & Riverfront Festival next Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Lock House Museum on the Susquehanna. The new event will combine extreme boat docking with an evening lighted boat parade, an early-morning dinghy poker run, and a waterfront festival all day with food, drinks, and music.
At the crack of 9 in the morning, dinghy skippers will zip to different checkpoints between Havre de Grace City Marina and the Lock House, vying for the best poker hand. While dinghy poker runs aren’t unheard of, it’s usually the big-boat poker runs that the upper Chesapeake Bay is famous for. This small-vessel poker run is more accessible for everyone to get in on the fun, and there are prizes to be had, thanks to generous donations from West Marine. The rally raises money for local Harford County nonprofits.
The Extreme Boat Dockin’ contest will kick off at 1 p.m., with the competition taking place at the Lock House Museum. This historic 1804 lock house was the last stop for canal boats before they entered the Chesapeake Bay. It was home to the lock tender and held a toll office for passing barges. The museum is open 1-5 p.m. on Fridays, Saturday, and Sundays, through October.
Riverfront Festival spectators can buy tickets for a view of the boat docking behind the lock and enjoy all the vendors who will be set up near the Lock House. Tickets are just under $18 including fees, and you can buy them here up until the day before the festival, Sept. 26.
10 of the most recognizable Chesapeake Cowboys and their powerful workboats, like Derrick Hoy on Crusher, Sydney Hughes on Wild Child, and 11-year-old Peyton Reiss on May Worm, will take to the water. These skilled operators can turn on a dime, back into a slip, and have lines on the pilings before most boaters could even put out a fender.
After the boat docking competition, operations move to Concord Point Park, home of the scenic Concord Point Lighthouse. Shuttles will be running between the two locations throughout the day. It’s the oldest publicly accessible lighthouse in Maryland (1827) and the furthest north on the Chesapeake Bay. The park will serve as a music venue for a performance by Sons of Pirates, billed as The Ultimate Party Band. The Lighted Boat Parade will follow the show. Boats will compete for the titles of Best Decorated, Most Original, and more. The Chesapeake Cowboys will also take part in the parade.
The Havre de Grace Riverfront Festival is a collaboration between local business owners Teresa Riedel-Ray of Water Street Seafood and Josh Argentino of Argentino Marine Sales & Service, working with Havre de Grace Lighted Boat Parade creator Lindsay Jones and the nonprofit Community Projects of Havre de Grace.
Riedel-Ray reached out to Chesapeake Cowboys’ Erik Emely for a brand new festival that embraces the waterfront. It was met with strong support from local sponsors, who helped cover the Chesapeake Cowboys’ appearance fees. Riedel-Ray and Argentino have been able to source food and drink vendors, tents, the necessary docking infrastructure and slips for the extreme workboats, and even port-a-potties for the event from generous local businesses.
The main beneficiary of the festival is a new initiative called Havre de Grace in Bloom. Inspired by a similar program in Lewes, Delaware, Riedel-Ray is raising funds to bring the group America in Bloom to the waterfront town. This all-volunteer effort would beautify the city of Havre de Grace by adding trees, plants, and flowers that bloom year-round.
Riedel-Ray is confident the Riverfront Festival will take off. “Havre de Grace hasn’t had anything like this…ever!”, she tells us. She envisions extending the festival to a full weekend in years to come, adding in more upper Bay culture through demonstrations of waterfowl hunting blinds, fly fishing, sailing, and more, along the waterfront.
Argentino, who works and plays on the water in Havre de Grace, wants to create a legacy with the Riverfront Festival. He has a 15-month-old daughter and is thinking about the future. “This is where I plan on spending the rest of my life,” he tells us. “I think it would be cool for my kids someday to say, ‘Hey… we were part of this when it all got started.'”
Learn more about the Havre de Grace Riverfront Festival here. If you can’t make it to the upper Bay next weekend, there’s one more chance to catch the Chesapeake Cowboys’ boat docking show. They will appear at Tilghman Island Day on Sat., Oct. 18, followed by a workboat race.
