This weekend, the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, the Kachemak Bay Wooden Boat Society and the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies are teaming up to co-host one big maritime festival in Homer.
The festival will showcase a variety of events, many of which are free to the public.
Hannah Heimbuch of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, is one of the event coordinators. She says that the new partnership between organizations has been very successful.
“Something that’s new this year is an awesome collaboration with the Kachemak Bay Wooden Boat Society. This is their 24th wooden boat festival and this is our 2nd annual Homer Halibut Festival. These are both fall festivals centered on our maritime culture here in Kachemak Bay and we’re really looking forward to this year’s partnership,” said Heimbuch.
The weekend festivities begin Thursday, September 8 with the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies’ CoastWalk Kick-Off. Coastwalk is a community-wide event focused on cleaning up local beaches.
On Friday, the festival continues with a lecture on halibut ecology and a film screening at Islands and Ocean Visitor Center.
The Kachemak Bay Wooden Boat Society will host their popular boat building project for kids on Saturday afternoon. Afterward, attendees can enjoy beer-battered halibut donated by local fishermen at a free community fish fry.
Heimbuch says that the maritime festival gives the Homer community a chance to come together and celebrate its natural resources.
“It’s really important for us to be creating opportunities to celebrate our amazing marine ecosystem and the communities in coastal Alaska that rely on it, that are completely intertwined with it,” said Heimbuch.
The maritime festival in Homer kicks off Thursday, September 8 and runs through this Sunday, September 11.
A schedule of events can be found at www.homerhalibutfest.org.