2012 Maritime Heritage Festival – A Gathering Of Classic Boats In Historic St. Helens, Oregon

A unique and very popular event is returning to Northwestern Oregon on July 13th – 15th, 2012 and fellow Woody Boaters Mike Mayer and his son Porter (above) were out tuning up the old Chris-Craft Cadet for the big 2012 Maritime Heritage Festival which is being held this year in historic St. Helens, Oregon (no, not the volcano – the City…).

But first, a short history lesson on St. Helens, Oregon…

Historic 1887 Map of St Helens, Oregon - Image Courtesy usgs.gov

St. Helens, Oregon is a deep-water seaport located on the Columbia River 29 miles northwest of Portland, and 66 miles southwest of Astoria. The hard black Columbia River basalt which underlies the city of St. Helens is part of the series of lava flows that came down the ancestral Columbia River valley 12 million to 14 million years ago.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed the rocky bluffs on which St. Helens was later to be built, in the winter of 1805 on their journey to the Pacific Ocean. In 1854, Columbia County was created, being formerly a part of Washington County. After a heated battle, St. Helens was named the county seat in August 1903. The old courthouse made of locally quarried stone, was built in 1906. The resent town site was chartered by an act of the Legislature on February 25, 1889. The post office was established in 1853. Views can be seen of Mount Hood, Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens. — Allen, 1985, Time Travel in Oregon, and St. Helens Chamber of Commerce Website, 2003

OK – Now that you are up to speed with St. Helens, Oregon here’s Mike Mayer’s report on the upcoming 2012 Maritime Heritage Festival…

2012 Maritime Heritage Festival

On July 13, 14 and 15 the Pacific Northwest will once again be celebrating the Maritime Heritage Festival. Sponsored by the Maritime Heritage Coalition, the MHF will embody many of the maritime interests of Portland, Oregon, it’s surrounding waterways and all of the interests that contribute to our maritime history.

If you’re within 5 or 6 hours of Portland than you need to drag your boat to this show. Held in Historic St. Helen’s, this years show boasts hundreds of feet of dock space, the famous PT-658 boat, an old sternwheeler (operated by the Oregon Maritime Museum), lots of food and art vendors. We will even have chicken on a stick. If you plan on coming just for the chicken give us a call first.

St. Helens has been the setting for several movies in the past. The most recent movie was Twilight. There is also an annual Halloween festival each October. But we digress….this is a cool town with a great boat show. Well worth the trip on many fronts. There are a lot of boating options from the show docks including the Columbia River and several channels that offer slow cruising, great restaurants and lots to look at.

The big awards dinner will be held on an island across the channel from the show. The events main sponsor, the Grand Ronde Indian Tribe, will be hosting the Saturday dinner. They will be preparing their authentic salmon BBQ over an alder fire. This is going to be good. There will be a flotilla on Friday evening to start the weekend followed by fireworks after sundown. The whole weekend will be full of things to do and see for the entire family.

Make plans to come out this way for this event. Dock space is going fast so get your registration in soon!

Mike Mayer – Lake Oswego Boat Co. LLC

Thanks Mike. For more information on the 2012 Maritime Heritage Festival and for a registration form you can click here to go directly to the website. Below is a schedule of events for the three big days which promises to be one of the top shows in the Pacific Northwest this year.

So if you are in the Pacific Northwest, just load up the old station wagon, the kids, the mother-in-law, the dog and the old boat and set your compass west for St. Helens, Oregon!

Texx