Act of Love: HarborFest Moved to Sept. 16-17 for Sag Harbor Businesses' Sake

To those fretting that they missed Sag Harbor’s 2023 HarborFest, scheduled annually on the second weekend in September, rest assured that the much-anticipated event has been moved to September 16 and 17 and will continue on the third weekend of the month moving forward. The Whaleboat Races, Clam Chowder Contest, Arts & Crafts Fair, live music and children’s activities are all back, but now the village businesses can truly enjoy the fun too.

The Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce’s decision to move the date of their end-of-summer festival further from Labor Day came after much deliberation and input from village businesses. “It’s been an outcry for a couple of years,” says Ellen Dioguardi, current chamber president. About 10 years ago, the chamber had elected to move HarborFest from its original date on the third weekend of September to the second weekend, but what worked for the village a decade ago, wasn’t working now.

“I started getting inundated with people saying, ‘Can we please move HarborFest? I have no staff. My restaurant can’t have a booth down at Long Wharf to sell food, because I can’t do it the week after Labor Day,’” she continues. “We also noticed that … there was a drop-off in the Whaleboat teams. As I’ve said constantly, for me, as the Whaleboat Races go, so goes HarborFest. It really is what HarborFest was built around. It’s what John Steinbeck started.”

The nearly unanimous results of a survey sent to chamber members confirmed what Dioguardi had been hearing, and the date change was finalized. Village business owners were thrilled. The local Jewish community was not.

The unfortunate timing of the decision came on a year when Rosh Hashanah falls on the third weekend of September, a scheduling conflict that doesn’t happen again until the 2030s and prevents practicing Jews from participating in HarborFest. “I, as somebody who has been to my nieces’ and nephews’ bat mitzvahs and bar mitzvahs through my husband’s family, took it very seriously. And as president of the chamber, I take it seriously,” Dioguardi says.

When she explained to Temple Adas Israel, The Center for Jewish Life and other disgruntled community members that the chamber had a responsibility to honor the majority rule, she was met with grace and understanding.

While the date change came with its own set of issues to address, such as difficulty getting the word out, the extra week has granted Dioguardi a much-needed extension to dot every I and cross every T as she finishes event preparations. “I can only say I’m grateful that we have another week,” she says. “There’s people really working hard on this, but I don’t need to put that out as the most important thing about HarborFest, because it’s supposed to be a fun weekend. You want everybody to enjoy it!”

HarborFest weekend is, indeed, packed with fun for all ages. Throughout the weekend, the chamber and its partners will host a wide array of activities on the Long Wharf and Windmill Beach, in Steinbeck Park and Marine Park, and elsewhere throughout the village. An official schedule can be found on page 66 and on the chamber website; however, Dioguardi encourages visitors to explore beyond the locations listed, as many area businesses will be participating in unique ways.

“Everybody gets involved, and it does take a village to do this,” she says. “Enjoy all that Sag Harbor has to offer!” Kidd Squid Brewing Company, Sage & Madison, LOVE Binetti, Baron’s Cove, Sag Harbor Inn, Canio’s Books, What the Falafel and Sag Harbor Kitchen are just some of the off-the-beaten-path spots worth checking out.

As for what is on the official schedule, look to Sag Harbor’s windmill to find the center of the action. There, HarborFest’s main event since the 1960s, the Whaleboat Races, will once again pit teams of four against one another as they row toward a fake white whale, harpoon it and race back ashore. The championship races for the men’s and women’s divisions will begin at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 17.

With locals having an extra week to find a team, train and take a breath after the summer rush, Dioguardi and Gavin Menu, the lead Whaleboat race organizer, are seeing an increase in the number of teams signing up, including new competitors and returning businesses with two or three teams competing.

“I did it once. I will never do it again,” Dioguardi says with a laugh. “But I will say that the memory of having done it will stay with me forever, and it will make me stand on Windmill Beach shouting at the top of my lungs.”

The fun on Windmill Beach and the Long Wharf doesn’t end with the Whaleboat Races. Children’s tug-of-war, hula hooping, corn shucking, potato sack racing, face painting, a fire juggler show and other games will keep the little ones entertained, while the adults can look forward to classic boat displays, ticketed cruises, free yoga, the annual Clam Chowder Contest that supports the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce, and a new “Honoring John Steinbeck” display by the Sag Harbor Historical Museum that pays tribute to the famous author and first chairman of the Old Whalers’ Festival, the precursor to HarborFest.

“Keeping Sag Harbor’s history a big part of this event is really important,” Dioguardi says. Local history enthusiasts will also want to check out the Historic Sag Harbor: Turn of the Century Photographs by William G. Howard exhibition at Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum, the guided tour of the Old Burying Grounds, the Voices of Old Whalers historic service at the Old Whalers’ Church and the historic walking tour at Eastville Historical Society.

The Long Wharf will also feature public performances by The Popsicles, Jettykoon and George Howard, while nearby Steinbeck Park offers shows by Alfredo Merat, Gene Casey and the Lone Sharks, the HooDoo Loungers and Rum Punch Mafia. Food and beverages may be available at Steinbeck Park’s evening shows, but attendees are encouraged to bring their own coolers, as well as lawn chairs and blankets.

Over in Marine Park on Bay Street, the annual HarborFest Arts & Crafts Fair will be held from 9 a.m.–5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Visitors will have the opportunity to shop the works of more than 50 talented artists and artisans.

As the chamber’s biggest fundraiser of the year, HarborFest provides vital support to the chamber’s many contributions to the village, including funding for the Main Street Christmas trees, upkeep of the public restrooms and iconic windmill, staffing for the village information booth and chamber businesses, and the organization of the HarborFrost festival each February.

“It really is an act of love to be president of the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce,” Dioguardi says, listing off the names of the many selfless presidents who preceded her. “That is the only reason to do it, because it takes too much time for it to benefit you in any way other than to make you feel good that you’re doing something nice for a community that you love. Everybody who’s come before me, I know, felt the same way I do.”

For more information and the detailed two-day HarborFest schedule, visit sagharborchamber.com.