The 38th Annual Cowichan Wooden Boat Festival will bring ‘Stories from the salish sea’ to Cowichan Bay
We are on our 38th year of celebrating the love, tradition and significance of Wooden Boats on the West Coast! This years festivals theme is ‘Stories from the Salish Sea’ and we couldn’t be more excited to share stories with you on June 27th!
The festival is a free, fun and family friendly event put on by the Cowichan Wooden Boat Society to engage boat lovers and our community in a day of celebration of the rich history and culture of Wooden Boats on the West Coast! Come down to the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre for a day of play on the water!
Participate in Seagull (motor) racing, Brown Bag Dinghy Races, kids boatbuilding, watch Steam Engine demonstrations, Nautical Speakers, listen to live music and more fun that is sure to engage lifelong seafarers and landlubbers alike!
Seagull Racing is BACK! All-Out and Poker racing will be happening and you will want to get in on the action! Get your seagull motor fired up and race through Cowichan Bay! The Seagull races are a time honored Festival Tradition and a unique Cowichan Bay Race! Get a fun costume or a super-soaker water gun and get ready to compete! Check back for a full itinerary with race times, etc.
is your seagull ready for racing? Connect with Tony for a tune up before the race! Want to race but don’t have a seagull, we have a few to lend out!
Grab someone you trust and try our hilarious Brown Bag Dingy Races This race blindfolds the paddler and the navigator has to direct their partner through the course (without hitting anything ideally!). Prizes for the fastest and slowest team!
We will be presenting a collection of boats that truly represent the craftmanship, culture and stories of boating on the west coast! The Oldest Canadian Built Sailboat SV Dorothy, The Iconic Canoe Cove Built double-ended cod boat Torhavn and more boats will be on the docks and on the hard telling stories from the Salish Sea! Our Zachary Mudge Cutter; A re-creation of one of the boats that was instrumental in the charting of Vancouver Island will be taking visitors on rowing/sailing trips around the bay throughout the day! Boat Line up to be announced in the coming weeks
Nautical Speaker Series Cozy up in our Mezzanine and hear ‘Stories from the Salish Sea’ from a variety of incredible local boater, craftsman and storytellers including Mark Reuten of Nomad Boatbuilding, Stories from SV Dorothy; Canadas oldest sailboat and more! Check back for a itinerary of speakers, presentation topics and timing.
Don’t go home empty handed - Our silent auction will be STOCKED FULL of incredible local gifts, gift cards, experiences, local goodies and drinks, memberships and more with a raffle basket, 50/50 draws and chances to win prizes in the Brown Bag Dingy races and Seagull Races!
Come for a party on the Patio! We will be closing out the festival with an evening of fun! featuring great music (BAND TBA SOON!), Great Beer, a BBQ and our awesome community! Tickets will be $5/person (purchase in advance) and there will be deadhead beer and BBQ dinner for purchase.
There will (of course) be good eats at the festival;
The day will kick off with a Pancake Breakfast. Enjoy a plate of True Grain Bakery Pancakes with local sausages and enjoy breakfast on our waterfront patio for only $10/plate.
Lunch is not just one bowl of Seafood Chowder but a Chowder tasting adventure! Get your tasting passport for $10 at our info tent and then explore the many lovely local restaurants in Cowichan Bay, sample the different seafood chowders and vote for your favorite.
We will fire the grill up again Saturday night for burger and hot dogs to enjoy with a cold bevvy and great music!
For the third year in a row we will be having a special Indigenous Salmon Dinner catered by the Joseph family. who will share snuwuyulh 'i' tthu s'ulhtun 'i' stilum ( our teachings, the food, and song)
Dinner will be June 26th. Tickets are $65/per person and must be pre-purchased, limited tickets available.
The dinner event will start with a cocktail hour featuring a $5 local beer and wine bar. at 6:30 attendees will be invited to get seated on the patio for an opening traditional Hul’q’umi'num' welcome prayer, drumming and song and opening remarks will kick off our festival weekend. At 7:00 dinner will be served. the meal will be a beautiful plate of BBQ salmon fillet, Skuw bread, salad, wild rice, potatoes, seasonal vegetables and dessert is a Skuw Shortcake with whipped cream. included with dinner is hot coffee, hot tea and herbal iced teas.
We need your help! To pull of a big community event as a non-profit organization with a tiny staff and budget we need all hands on deck! The festivals success over the past 37 years is because of our amazing community. We have always had generous sponsors, amazing silent auction donations and great people who have lent us their time and talents! If you our your business is interested in supporting our festival click the links below;
Donate an item, service, gift certificate or experience that we will auction to help re-coup event costs Support our Silent Auction
We cant pull off a festival without our generous sponsors. Want to support the festival and promote your business or organization? Take a look at our sponsorship opportunities
Have some time to give? We need volunteers to make the festival happen! drop us a line to set up volunteering cwbs@classicboats.org
Have another way you would like to collaborate and take part in the festivities? Drop us a line!
Have a boat you’d like to have be part of the show? Apply to come to the festival with a boat in the water or on the hard
