Visitors to this year's Anacortes Waterfront Festival May 17th and 18th enjoyed everything from jigs to jibs, pirates to parrots, singing Shifty Sailors to polished classic cars. And with attendance up over last year, it was one of the most successful festivals since it began 13 years ago.
The festival is a marine-related celebration of the past, present and future for both the port city of Anacortes and Skagit County. Several weeks of warm-up events included the poster unveiling and a dinner/dance kickoff.
Once again Shell Puget Sound Refinery was the Poster (prime) sponsor of the event. The refinery has sponsored the festival at some level for most of the past 13 years. Employee participation (and fun!) increases yearly.
Join us in a brief photo walk to see a few ways the refinery supports the community, and how we celebrate together a rich maritime heritage.
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About four weeks in advance, the poster unveiling anticipates the start of the festival. And as the Poster Sponsor, Shell Puget Sound Refinery receives a signed, matted and framed poster. This year the presentation of the poster was hosted at Compass Wines. On behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, Executive Director Mike Broome and Events Manager Beth Prins present the poster to Refinery Manager Tom Smith and Human Relations Manager Gretchen Buchmeyer. |
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| The festival offers community members a chance to meet informally with refinery employees, ask questions, view product samples and receive brochures explaining the refining process. Leonard Wood enjoys an animated conversation with a local couple. | Sandy Corrion helps kids pack their new treasures: fuzzy weebles, Molly Cule activity books, hacky-sacks, pens, pads and plenty of other booty. |
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| Kids under 15 years old queued up all day to enter the daily drawing for a very nice bike from Skagit Cyclery Center (a $400 gift certificate). They were also entered into a daily drawing for a whale watching package for four. | Don Meehan, Director for the WSU-Beach Watchers organization is joined by Shell employees Connie Gaind, Leonard Wood, Liz Barge and Brett Woltjen. The university organization monitors and assesses local beaches and intertidal zones. |
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| One of the festival's big hits was the Pirate's Parrot show. Here part-time pirate Chris Biro holds the audience captive as he mixes education and entertainment. He's a frequent visitor to local schools, as well. | Many of the 16 parrots were free flight birds, flying around the festival grounds and perching in trees near the pirate's boat. The bright color of the parrots was matched by the color of their antics...from snipping off buttons to temporarily snitching a lady's diamond ear ring. |
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| The festival is about many things, but especially boats-- from yachts on display to kayak races, boat rides to radio-controlled boats of all sizes. | For the past several years, Island Adventures and the refinery have offered two whale watching packages--part of the daily drawing for kids 15 and under. Each package gives four persons an unforgettable 5- to 6-hour whale watching tour of the San Juan Islands. |
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| The Shell booth offered technical displays and information, as well as opportunties for bike giveaways and whale watching trips. And once again the booth provided space for many of the non-profit organizations the refinery supports during the year. | Rod Walsh, Manager of the Major Projects Organization and Gretchen Buchmeyer, Manager of Human Resources, chat with Executive Director Tim Seifert and trustees Dale Hazen and Rick Machin of the San Juan Preservation Trust after a check passing ceremony. |
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| Executive Administrative Assistant Carolyn Whalen helps a couple of boys in their quest to win a new bike or a whale watching adventure. | The refinery feels right at home in the Northwest, and especially Anacortes. Many employees volunteer their time with non-profit organizations, churches, schools, and boards of health or education agencies. |
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| Refinery personnel present a check from the Shell Foundation to Patsy Martin and Ed Gastellum, Trustees. Representing Shell are (L to R) Pam Nelson, Gretchen Buchmeyer, Boyd Wells, Liz Barge, Rod Walsh, June Snelson and George Welsh. | The Waterfront Festival helps build bridges to the community. It's also a lot of fun. Working the Saturday afternoon schedule are (L to R), Leonad Wood, John Carney, June Snelson, Liz Barge, Carolyn Whalen, Rita Carney and Brett Woltjen. |
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| The Fidalgo Rotary Club sponsored a boat building event for kids in the middle of the festival grounds. Of course, kids and boats are main ingredients to a successful Waterfront Festival and this year there was an abundance of both. | No one could miss the bright "shellow" employee parkas throughout the event. Holding down the first four-hour shift are (L to R) Jeff Mussen, Gretchen (again), Sandy Corrion, Alex Moody, Nancy Branum and Dave Gruber. |
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Organizers said this year's Waterfront Festival was one of the most successful in the history of the event, with tens of thousands of guests attending. It ended on a high note with a crowd-pleasing act from the Shifty Sailors, an abundance of sun and a load of fun. Related websites: www.anacortes-chamber.com/waterfront.htm
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