5 Reasons to See the Great Lakes Tall Ships Challenge and Festival Green Bay 2016

The Tall Ships Festival came back to Green Bay in August of 2010 for three continuous days (one day shorter than the last time it came through town). Green Bay is one of four host ports for the Great Lakes Tall Ships Challenge race. The race stops include Detroit, Cleveland, Green Bay, and ends in Chicago.

The second time the race passed through the city was 2013.  The next is slated for 2016 - and that will arrive quickly!

Here are the top 5 reasons to behold this spectacular event in Green Bay:

1) If your desire is to board or ride one of these schooners, know that Green Bay's event has only about 50,000 visitors spread over three days.  That is about 250,000 LESS people to wait behind than the next closest port of Chicago!  Lines are relatively short here to board the boats. Food and beer lines are only 5 minutes long, and the port-a-potty lines are also shorter than they are to our neighbor port to the south.

2) Admission is less than $10 per person. That's a day's worth of entertainment for photo buffs and water enthusiasts.

3) This event has always had good weather in August. Though it can get windy or hot, it has not suffered the rainy season that some events cope with earlier in summer.

4) Where else in the midwest can you go to see a harbor full of tall-masted, sea-faring ships?

5) This event only comes around every two years (festival) and four years (for the Challenge race).

The 2010 event sported 13 schooners filling the port with sky-reaching masts in every direction. Each year the names and quantity of ships grow making this event even more exciting as the years go by.

The impact of seeing so many schooners in our harbor was overwhelming beautiful. It made me wonder what a teaming port must have looked like back in the early days of the city.  With sails blowing in the brisk, hot breeze, crews climbing masts, and the current swelling with activity, Leight Park and the port were abroil with energy.