2017 Nanaimo Marine Festival & Bathtub Race
Ahoy BC
During Canada’s centennial year, Nanaimo made international headlines with an improbable, even impossible event. The world’s first Bathtub Race saw a variety of cobbled-together craft launched from Nanaimo harbour bound for Vancouver’s Kitsilano beach as part of the big city’s Sea Festival. Most never made it out of the harbour (some never made it off the shore).
Fast-forward 50 years, to the 2017 Nanaimo Marine Festival and International World Bathtub Race July 21-23. The competition involves purpose-built craft with no resemblance to the vintage vessels, and what began in Nanaimo stays in Nanaimo – leaving from and returning to the launch site under the stony gaze of former Mayor Frank Ney’s statue. Ney, in full pirate gear complete with sword, was probably best known for his showmanship in promoting the Bathtub Race and he perfectly embodied Nanaimo’s quirky, fun-loving reputation.
This year’s festival offers three days of family-friendly fun and activities (many of them free) kicked off by the King Neptune Dance Friday night. Saturday’s Shaw Sailpast on Wheels showcases the racing Tubs, including the World’s Largest Bathtub, and all the traditional parade entries: bands, floats, etc.
The fun continues daily with an arts and crafts fair, a three-block-long vendor market, kiddies carnival, Born on a Board wakeboard competition, and live music everywhere all day, every day. Visit the Swy-a-Lana Lagoon for a Bathtub Tug-off-War and the Mayors Paddlewheel Bathtub Challenge. And Saturday night, the Quality Foods Festival of Lights provides an award-winning fireworks display to music simulcast on 102.3FM.
For more information, click here.