Attendance, revenue up slightly from 2025
by Richard Lamb–Advance Editor
Nautical City Festival 2026 came to a windy end Sunday, as the fireworks show started early, because of blustery conditions. The fireworks company fired a test shell around 9 p.m., then made the call to start the presentation at 9:30 p.m. instead of 10 for safety reasons.
But overall, the weather stayed fair and warm for the weeklong event and crowds didn’t seem to mind that the event was two weeks later than traditionally staged.
Threatening weather conditions held off for the grand parade Sunday, with grand marshals Matt and Jackie Quaine riding the float with their children and grandchildren. The big tent at Lakeside Park filled with people to hear the Polka band Kielbasa Kings while the cornhole tournament participants tossed bags Sunday afternoon.
“Overall, it went really well. The numbers, even with the date changed, seemed similar to last year. The bands have been great. They all have been well received. So, Waylon Hanel was awesome on Thursday. Jedi Mind Trip is always a favorite. Knee Deep, that was a new one. I wasn’t sure how that was going to go, but people really liked them. And then the Kielbasa Kings—people are happy to have polka back,” said festival chairwoman Karen Spens.
Final numbers were not available, but Spens said some days seemed to be up from last year or at least equal to past years. She said attendance at all nights were up from last year’s totals, with the exception of Saturday. Overall revenues were pretty even with 2025 totals.
“It seems similar to me. Thursday definitely was better than last year,” she said.
A new event brought professional wrestling to the big tent for two performances Saturday afternoon. Pure Pro Wrestling set up a ring on the south end of the tent, in the wee hours of the morning, after the tent closed Friday night. They offered ringside seating and brought all the dramatics and acrobatics found in the pro wrestling world. The presentations didn’t fill the tent, but made enough to break even, Spens said.
“The car show was down a bit. I know there were three other car shows going on. We were at 126 vehicles this year and 165 last year. So that was was down,” Spens said.
The running events drew 277 participants for the Saturday run/walk. The courthouse square buzzed with the activity around a full display of juried arts and crafts. Softball tournaments brought many teams and spectators .
As always, the festival is powered by an army of volunteers, an army always in search of new members to staff the gate, bar and many other positions.
“Our volunteers were amazing. We had a lot of the same people doing multiple shifts. We can always use some more bodies so the same people are not stretched over and over,” Spens said.
Next year the Nautical City Festival moves back to ending the first full weekend of August, running Aug. 3-8. An airshow is set for the weekend before, celebrating the 50th festival in a big way.
“That’s like the kickoff. We might do a few more little fun things that weekend, we’ll see,” Spens said.
