JOHN HERBERT: MARITIME FEST 2009 SAILS INTO TACOMA TODAY AND TOMORROW >>>

Everyone is invited to celebrate Tacoma’s working waterfront this weekend at the Commencement Bay Maritime Fest 2009. Build a boat, board a boat, be on the Bay. Now that’s alliteration. Enjoy music, arts and food. Cheer dragon boat paddlers, and, if you dare, join in the quick and dirty boat building competition, which challenges three-person teams to build the best boat using limited materials in six hours.

After you’re done getting dirty, tour Tacoma Rail and the Port of Tacoma. Then clean up again.

[Thea Foss Waterway, Saturday, Aug. 29 & Sunday, Aug. 30, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., free, all ages, free shuttle to Thea’s Park from Link Light Rail, Tacoma,  253.318.2210]

LINK: Schedule of events

LINK: Map and directions

LINK: Appropriate dress for today