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June 30, 2025
STURGEON BAY – After a six-year hiatus, the Tall Ships Festival is returning to Door County.
As the name suggests, four tall ships – clippers and schooners with thousands of square feet of sails on masts reaching high into the sky – are scheduled to dock in Sturgeon Bay from July 31 to Aug. 1.
The four ships scheduled to appear at the festival, Cameryn Ehlers-Kwaterski – executive director of Destination Sturgeon Bay (DSB) – said, are the Liberty Clipper, Pride of Baltimore II, Utopia and When and If.
Ehlers-Kwaterski said their appearance is a collaborative effort by DSB and the Door County Maritime Museum.
She said the ships will be in the city while the museum (120 N. Madison Ave.) holds its Classic & Wooden Boat Show Aug. 1-3.
“We used to be in a cadence of the ships coming every three years,” she said. “They were here in 2013, 2016 and 2019, and then in 2022, everything was thrown out of whack because of COVID-19. We’re really excited to have them back this year.”
Though Ehlers-Kwaterski said the tall ships have been to Sturgeon Bay a handful of times in the past, they would only dock for a night or two before moving on.
“They’ll be coming back in a different capacity this year,” she said. “This year, we’ve got them for a full weekend. Because the tall ships’ appearance also coincides with the Classic & Wooden Boat Show, there is going to be a lot of activity during that time in Sturgeon Bay.”
Ehlers-Kwaterski said DSB and the maritime museum “worked together to get the Tall Ships (Festival) back to the area.”
“The backstory behind bringing the ships to Sturgeon Bay initially goes back some time,” she said. “Originally, Tall Ships America reached out to us and said the ships were looking for a stop between Duluth, Minnesota, and Detroit, Michigan. Green Bay has been a stop in the past, but this year, the Tall Ships are not stopping in Green Bay… So, (Tall Ships America) reached out and offered us a longer, more extended stay.”
Sailaway cruises
Another reason the longer stay is good, Ehlers-Kwaterski said, is because sailaway cruise tickets are being offered this year.
“The sailaway experiences are for ticketed passengers,” she said. “The ships are great to see, but they’re going to be working while they’re here, doing a lot of different sailaways – daytime sailaways, twilight sailaways and a parade of sails. Depending on the ships, some of them will be doing four, five or even six sailaways per day.”
Ehlers-Kwaterski said the length of the sailaways varies.
“A daytime sailaway is about an hour and a half, a twilight sailaway is about two hours and then the parade of sails will be about three hours,” she said. “The parade of sails is going to be the first sailaway experience of the tall ships’ visit (on July 31). It will start at noon, and then all of the ships will sail together back into Sturgeon Bay – kind of as a big parade. There will only be 26 tickets per ship, so it’s going to be an exclusive experience for those folks who will be on board.”
Ehlers-Kwaterski said of the available sailaway tickets, about 80% have already been reserved.
“We expect those sailaway cruises to be fully booked out,” she said, “but that’s just a portion of the people who will be coming to the area. We expect this to be big for us. We will also have public trolleys that will be doing free loops throughout downtown Sturgeon Bay to help move people around.”
More than sailaways
Ehlers-Kwaterski said many DSB member businesses are also making plans for the event.
“Whether it’s in-store specials or live music, many of the area businesses have special plans,” she said. “We also have our farmers market every Saturday morning, so that will be part of that weekend. There is going to be a lot happening, but we’re very excited. We’ve already received a lot of positive feedback and buzz about things.”
Even if visitors don’t purchase tickets for a sailaway experience, Ehlers-Kwaterski said there are still several opportunities to board the vessels.
“If people want to experience the ships, and they’re not purchasing a (sailaway) ticket, both the Pride of Baltimore II and the Utopia will be docked outside of the maritime museum and available for free deck tours (Friday through Sunday),” she said. “Those ships will be docked from 9-11 a.m., so that’s a really great opportunity if people don’t have a sailaway ticket.”
Ehlers-Kwaterski said the Liberty Clipper and When and If will be docked at the Stone Harbor Resort (107 N 1st Ave.) – however, they won’t offer deck tours.
More on the ships
Ehlers-Kwaterski said the Tall Ships – most of which are from the East Coast – maneuver throughout the Great Lakes all summer.
“Each port city has a little different setup,” she said. “For example, in the larger cities, they might fence off an area for these ships to be. Because of our location and the channel that cuts right through Sturgeon Bay, we don’t have the capabilities to fence off the vessels or do a ticketed experience in that kind of way.”
However, Ehlers-Kwaterski said not being able to fence off the ships lends itself to an up-close-and-personal experience.
“Because we can’t fence them off, people can get right up close to the ships, and without having to pay for a ticket at all, they can really get a full experience,” she said.
According to the Tall Ships America website (tallshipsamerica.org), each ship has its own unique aspects, including:
- Pride of Baltimore II – a 157-foot-long topsail schooner built to the lines of an 1812-era Baltimore clipper.
- Liberty Clipper – a 125-foot-long replica of a mid-19th-century Baltimore clipper that operates in Boston Harbor during summers and the Bahamas in winter.
- When and If – a restored, 83-foot-long Alden schooner commissioned by U.S. Gen. George S. Patton in 1939.
- Utopia – a 77-foot-long staysail schooner designed by the late Fred J. Peterson, the founder of the onetime Sturgeon Bay shipyard Peterson Builders, Inc., which built Utopia in 1946. The vessel has covered an estimated 60,000 miles in its life, including an around-the-world cruise from 1956-59 and is now homeported in Manitowoc.
“The Utopia is definitely a very classic vessel,” Ehlers-Kwaterski said. “It has new ownership, so we’re still waiting to finalize the schedule and see what the tours and offerings will look like. I think people are really excited the Utopia is going to be part of the experience.”
Speaking as a mom herself, Ehlers-Kwaterski said the Tall Ships Festival will be “great fun for all.”
“Kids will definitely get into the experience,” she said. “For some, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We’re really trying to create several activities and different things for kids and families because we know that will be a big draw.”
Economic impact
Ehlers-Kwaterski said the impact of an event like this is vital to the Sturgeon Bay area and its economy.
She said it’s even more special because of Sturgeon Bay’s maritime history.
“This type of event is great because it celebrates our working water history,” she said. “For someone who maybe hasn’t been to Sturgeon Bay before, it’s a great opportunity to take it all in.”
Though the economic impact of the event is not absolute at this point, Ehlers-Kwaterski said it will be “significant.”
“We like to quantify the day trippers we might get, but with ticket sales, we also know the zip codes where people are coming from,” she said. “We are seeing lots of people booking from out of town. Partnering with the maritime museum as well, it’s beneficial because when people purchase tickets through the museum, they also capture zip codes. We’ll do our best to put a number on the economic impact.”
Ehlers-Kwaterski said all summer weekends in Door County are busy, but the Tall Ships Festival weekend “will be a big one for sure.”
“I highly encourage folks to come check things out – you won’t be disappointed,” she said.
For tickets and more information on the ships and their appearance, visit sturgeonbay.net/tall-ships.
