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Cokato residents get to see majestic, old ships first-hand
Combine a marvelous weather weekend with the appearance of three tall ships docked in the Duluth Minnesota harbor and you have the makings of something special.
Last weekend was just that combination. In celebration of the 150th year of Minnesota statehood, the city of Duluth arranged for replicas of three tall sailing vessels; the Pride of Baltimore, the Niagara and the Madeline all to be in the port simultaneously during the same weekend.
The previous picture was taken from the Pride of Baltimore II website as to what the ship looks like with the sails up. This was the medium-sized ship in the harbor.
Tours were available to go inside each of the vessels to see what the ships were like. They all sailed into Duluth under the lift bridge on Thursday July 31st and were greeted by a crowd that surpassed all expectations. The final estimated amount of visitors to the Duluth area during this event was 125,000 people.
Nearly all of the tickets available to tour the boats were sold. Some of the tickets were sold months in advance. The lines even stretched out of the Canal Park area of Duluth and onto Highway 35. Waiting in line to see the vessels lasted up to and over five hours.
Several Dassel-Cokato residents made the trip to the Maritime Festival to see for themselves the awesome sights.
One such family was David and Kathy Munson and their children Travis, Julie and Sarah. They left were in the Duluth/Superior twin port towns on Saturday and Sunday. Instead of waiting in the long lines to see the inside of the ships, they opted to use a Vista Cruise boat sightseeing tour to get a look at this once in a lifetime sight. They were able to see the ships from the Superior Bay without the crowds.
The Munsons were also treated to the experience of turning around from the sailing ships to see a 1,000 foot long ore freighter approaching them from the other side of the Vista Cruise boat. The massive size of the freighter was impressive and what was so surprising was that the freighter’s approach was so quiet that they did not even notice it until it was almost beside the boat that they were on.
The contrast between the old and the new was huge. The need for a large ship like the American Century showed the Munson family how much the world is using now versus what was used in the 1800s when the tall ships met the needs of the people.
The entire experience was unique for all that went to the festival. The Munson family would change their schedule next time to allow them to see the ships either sailing in or out of the harbor.
They felt there was something missing in the experience in not being able to see the sails up on the boats.
They along with anyone else will have to wait a few years to get another opportunity to see this again. The success of the festival has the city of Duluth trying to organize another trip back for these ships in the year 2010.
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