OK, if this isn’t the most unique Father’s Day gift ever … come on! On yesterday’s " “Best of Laguna Beach” radio show at KXFM 104.7, we talked about a veritable flotilla of fun arriving this weekend in Newport Beach.
I’m publishing this a day in advance of usual publication because some tickets are selling out fast . . . . . Listen to the fun audio replay, above, and check out details, below.
Hosted by the Balboa Yacht Club for the 10th year in a row, the super-popular Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival is this coming weekend.
It’s one of the largest in the country and just $15 for the entire day’s many festivities on Saturday, June. 14th (kids under 12 are free). More on the VIP Premier Night that kicks this whole thing off on Friday, June 13th shortly … but is IS almost sold out, so you might just want to go here now:
(Free parking with free shuttles, both days. Proceeds go to scholarships and non-profit organizations. All the details in the audio replay, above ☝️)
Best of Laguna VIP Members … see details below
on a nice add-on special the organizers offered.
Here’s everything we discussed (and sang!) in our fast-moving show:
🛥️ Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival’s theme this year: Stories of the Sea: Wooden Boats in Film & Fiction (Hollywood movies and best-selling books that created celebrities out of the classic wooden boat … or celebrities that procured and loved them)
🚣♂️ This year’s fest has 35 boats incoming, including a 60-foot rowing boat and a shell designed by none other than George Pocock, the legendary boat builder of the racing shell featured in “Boys in the Boat.”
⛴️ 🍔 🧑🎨 🎥 🖼️ 🍺 GIANT Festivities include tours of boats and yachts with plenty of chats with the captains … bay tours on John Wayne’s Wild Goose yacht … a huge BBQ and plenty of libation stations … live music throughout the day … Laguna’s own plein air painters … an original photo gallery of great movie legends with their wooden boats … an entire kids’ section of fun and games hosted by the Newport Beach Library … collectible “trading cards” from sponsor Whittier Trust (like their now famous Rose Bowl Parade cards only THESE have one of our own Laguna artist’s renditions) … and even skin cancer screenings! It’s a one-stop shop, folks!
🎶 Our official Sea Shanty Singer Tony Cielo joins us with a fascinating history on not only the sea shanty world (these guys have been around for centuries) but his own history of how he added this uniqueness to his resumé.
👩🦰 Tony sings “The Argo,” actually written around a woman sea captain, which was a much more common fixture than most of us think. (Stephen also offers a NEW silent auction that actually includes our famed Sea Shanty Singer on the very same day.)
🍾 The VIP Premiere Night on Friday, June 13th is a swank event with sneak peeks and tours of the wooden boats, top shelf champagne and cocktails, gourmet appetizers, live music, dancing, a live (crazy cool item) auction and more. Less than 20 tickets were remaining during our show, so get on it!
🏨 Oh! And don’t forget hotel discounts at The Hyatt Regency (with free shuttle and complimentary cocktails there) AND the few remaining tickets available for John Wayne’s Grey Goose Bay Tour.
Then, Tony Cielo finishes our show with a “newer” Sea Shanty song whose lyrics have to do with that repetitive food served at sea . . . “Chicken on a Raft.”
