Salisbury Beach Maritime Festival

Jay and I took a ride over to Salisbury Beach to check out the 2nd annual Maritime Festival being held at the State Reservation.  We had watched the gang plank/docking being built while we were camping at the beach a few weeks ago and I thought seeing the ships would be fun.

There will be a band performing  and fireworks plus being able to tour the ships sounded like a neat way to spend the day or weekend.  Saturday ended up being the first sunny day in god knows how long so the roads to the beach were congested with traffic. When we arrived at little after 11 a.m. the parking lots at the reservation were pretty much full but I really think most of the people were down at beach and not visiting the Tall Ships. At least not at the time we were there.

A Beach event with cool Tall Ships

There were a few vendors set up selling all sorts of stuff and lots of food available.  The food was of the typical beach fare  and all priced a little high in my opinion. I saw a lot of families and small crowds of people waiting to walk onto the ships but over all, I expected more people.

The Economy hurts

Maybe the high price of parking kept some people away, $9.00 to park in the Reservation plus a small fee to get onto the ships and the cost of food might make some think twice in this economy.  Granted the parking facilities are good with plenty of rest rooms and some concession stands but still $9.00 is pricey even if you spend the day at the beach. I’m a fan of Salisbury Beach and love the fact that it’s gone through revitalization that seems to be successful so I’ll pay the $9.00 and the high cost of food to take part in something special.

As it was, Jay and I walked around, then sat on the wall and watched the action. After we filled our bellies we ventured down to the beach where it was totally packed with beach bodies all over the place!  Scoping out your own spot on the sand was difficult.

If I had little kids it would have been a total blast and I would recommend to anyone looking to do something different to visit the Maritime Festival. Sunday July 26th is the last day… so grab the camera and head over tomorrow.