Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Eight giant ships of yore, their sails unfurled, are expected to glide underneath the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge Thursday afternoon during the "Parade of Sail" to kick off 


Organizers expect up to 300,000 people in Duluth for the four-day event. Tickets to sail aboard four of the vessels sold out nearly a year ago, but others can board the ships when they're docked or get an up-close view from shore. 

Tall ships on tap for Duluth in 2016

Tall Ships Festival 2013


The star vessel of this year's festival is expected to be the 170-foot, 495-ton 

 the world's only replica of a 16th-17th century Spanish galleon that was part of Spain's West Indies fleet. 


"It's a huge ship, it's going to be pretty magnificent sailing into the canal underneath the Aerial Lift Bridge," said Craig Samborski, executive producer of the festival.

Not making the voyage to Duluth is the Draken Harald Harfagre, billed as the world's largest Viking ship.

The vessel was scheduled to take part in the Duluth festival, but turned around following a festival in Green Bay, Wisc. after failing to raise the money required to pay U.S. pilots to guide the ship through the Great Lakes. 

Norwegian Viking ship won't go to Duluth for festival


This is the fourth Tall Ships festival in Duluth in the past decade. The first in 2008 featured only three ships, but still drew 125,000 people. Additional festivals followed in 2010 and then 2013, which drew an estimated 250,000 people, and generated $15 million in economic activity, according to city tourism officials. 


They estimate this year's event will give Duluth a similarly sized economic jolt. 


Samborski said the ships are on something of a regular circuit now, where they return to the Great Lakes every three years, with trips to the West and East Coasts in between. And they only seem to be growing in popularity, he said, with the romanticism and history they evoke.


"This is one of those few events out there that I think appeals to every demographic," he said. "And because we're only in Duluth once every three years, it keeps demand very high."

Arts and Culture

Dan Kraker

Author

Eight huge sailing vessels, many of them wooden replicas of ships from centuries past, sail into Duluth this weekend. They're expected to lure up to 300,000 visitors.

Tall Ships expected to draw big crowds to Duluth

Go Deeper.

Like this?