Greenport Maritime Festival seeks volunteers, sponsors ahead of September return

With the 36th annual Maritime Festival steering back into Greenport in just six weeks, the committee behind this year’s event is still trying to gather as many volunteers and sponsors as they can.

The Greenport Business Owners Alliance — a group of village business owners separate from the Business Improvement District — took over stewardship from The East End Seaport Museum & Marine Foundation, which had organized the tradition for the last 35 years before announcing last October that it would no longer run the festival.

The alliance is led by Sarah Phillips of First and South, who chairs the festival steering committee, Rena Wilhelm of The Weathered Barn, Kara Hoblin of North Fork Art Collective and Kim Loper of Harbor Pet.

The committee said they had been working behind the scenes getting everything organized as best they could for the last six months, but taking on a free job they’ve never done before has been a lot, and with the festival returning September 25-27, they wanted to get more face time — while also still looking for a large number of volunteers for the gala, vendors and booths, cleanup and everything in between.

“I think boots on the ground and being in people’s faces is the way to get things done,” Ms. Wilhelm said. 

Ms. Phillips, Ms. Wilhelm and Ms. Loper held an informational meeting Aug. 12 at the Hold Fast, Stay True fund storefront on Main Street to introduce the organizing team and recruit more help. Ms. Hoblin was away for business.

“Getting everybody in a room and explaining who’s actually behind the event was important, so that it’s not this blind idea of ‘who’s doing it?’ or ‘if I have questions, where do I go?’” Ms. Wilhelm said. “The idea is getting people who are not only part of the event but people who are part of the community and want to get involved.”

Those in attendance were able to sign up to be vendors, sponsors, or volunteers, if interested. There are several different sponsorship opportunities and levels, ranging from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands.

The top three sponsorship options come with exclusive benefits, such as more visibility, reach and hospitality. This year’s presenting sponsor is Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital.

“Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital is proud to be the presenting sponsor of the Maritime Festival. We are the community hospital, and this is truly a community event,” SBELIH Chief Administrative Officer Paul Connor said. “The Maritime Festival brings people together to celebrate everything that makes Greenport and the North Fork special, and we’re glad to be part of it.”

Those interested in joining as a sponsor or volunteer can fill out their information online.

The four steering committee members have divided responsibilities as the festival approaches. Ms. Wilhelm is in charge of vendors; Ms. Loper is in charge of logistics and is the liaison for the boats and the boat display; and Ms. Hoblin is in charge of social media and design.

Ms. Phillips was on the museum board for six years and ran the annual Land and Sea gala for a time. Proceeds from this year’s gala auction will directly benefit the seaport museum.

“I felt it would be irresponsible of me not to step up and do this with the community, because I could,” Ms. Phillips said of leading the charge. “This energy is so good, and seeing people come together just to do something fun together to highlight what we’re here for; it just feels like we need it right now.”

The committee is also looking beyond the three-day festival. Ms. Phillips said that, following the festival and going into fall and winter, the hope is to build a year-round maritime identity through additional village programming.

“We can do things within the village,” she said. “We can offer maritime classes, we can figure out different things that give us population during the winter and have people coming together for the right reasons.”