Coast Guard City Portsmouth Street Festival

Lightship bouncer, re-enactors and pirates! Special programs and activities at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum and the Portsmouth Lightship Museum down on the riverfront. Free admission. (Go to Portsmouth Naval Museums programs and scroll down to August for details.)

Rides, slides and family fun all day long! Tiki Island Rock Wall, G-Force Twin Spin, Monkey Motion Jumper and much more! Children’s amusements and activities from the riverfront to the Children’s Museum of Virginia Middle Street Mall. Free Coast Guard  exhibits in the Skipjack Marine Gallery (see “Coast Guard Art and Aviation” page) and in the Children’s Museum of Virginia Orientation Room (use side entrance from Middle Street Mall). The new, expanded Children’s Museum of Virginia (where Coast Guard ID holders get $5 off admission) is a great place to cool off.

At High Street Landing, the ELM (see here and here) is open for tours from noon to 4.45 pm. Also moored are the BELUGA and a few smaller craft. The ELM will be open for tours on Saturday from noon to 4:45 p.m. Wow! What a great addition to the street festival!

Other High Street highlights: browse exhibits on everything from U.S. Coast Guard Base Portsmouth to Starbase Victory and Portsmouth Public Schools. Cool off in the TowneBank building lobby, where the Department of Economic Development is showcasing what’s happening in the City of Portsmouth, with a chance to win a Coast Guard City Portsmouth Celebration gift certificate (including a vacation) worth over $500! Take a tour of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, and walk around the corner to the Middle Street Garage, where the Olde Towne Business Association hosts the monthly Antiques to Flea Market (from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.).

Head up to Court Street and visit the Portsmouth Olde Towne Farmers Market for fresh local produce, jams and jellies, baked goods, and arts and crafts  (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), right outside the Courthouse Galleries, where admission to the latest exhibit is also free on August 6. Stop in at one of Portsmouth’s fine restaurants and check out the galleries and shops along the way.

It’s a full day of celebrating Portsmouth, an official Coast Guard City!