At this moment, wooden boat fanatics from near and far are shining their bowsprits in preparation for the biggest event of the year: the 2019 Wooden Boat Festival.

“It’s definitely a don’t-miss year at Wooden Boat Festival this year,” said Barb Trailer, director of the festival. “There’s a lot that is new and it’s very exciting.”

The Northwest Maritime Center is shaking things up with a new Japanese boat-building theme in the boat shop and decorating that space to match. While boat festivals of the past have tended to focus on Western/European styles of boatbuilding, this year the boat shop will offer unique presentations on Japanese boat building. The shop will bloom with the color of Japanese floral decorations and viewers can stop by to see a Shinano riverboat students at the Maritime Center built in just five days.

There will be several Japanese boat building presentations, including the history of Japanese boat builders in British Columbia at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday at the Discovery Stage, Taiko Drumming at 12 p.m. on Sunday, and a traditional Shinto boat launch at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. There will also be Gyotaku fish printing for kids, where they can print a t-shirt or tea towel in the traditional Japanese way, inking an actual fish to transfer its image to paper.

“The Shinto launch is something you can’t see out of Japan,” Trailer said. “To me it’s thrilling to bring something cultural to the festival.”

Trailer said they are hoping to build toward having one main cultural theme each year at the Wooden Boat Festival, with the Center holding a class on building a boat in that culture’s style, to be launched at the festival.

Also in the boat shop is a Norwegian faering boat, made in the traditional no-drawings, no-plans Viking way. To learn more about that boat, class instructor Jay Smith will be giving a presentation on Norse boat building at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

“We have 120 presenters on seven stages,” Trailer said. “It’s also not just all about boats. A lot of it is about adventure.”

For those “tracker junkies” who followed the Race to Alaska religiously this past June, the Racer Alley will offer up the opportunity to meet the racers and hear their stories. Not only that, but racers from the SEVENTY48 will be talking about the engine-free paddle race from Tacoma to Port Townsend that precedes R2AK, including teachers from Colorado who led a group of students in building their own boat and racing in the SEVENTY48.

Along with meeting racers, the festival will offer 80 vendors and 300 wooden boats to wander through and gawk at, their owners close at hand to answer questions about their construction.

And when visitors to the festival get tired of walking up and down the docks at Point Hudson, the Bar Harbor mainstage will be ready for the party.

“The gates are always open after 6, so it’s a great opportunity for locals to come and enjoy the music,” Trailer said. “The biggest dance is Saturday night with Uncle Funk and the Dope 6.”

The Wooden Boat Festival is $20 per day, or $40 for the whole three days, Trailer said. Kids under 12 are always free.

“But to get in free is easy,” Trailer said. “It’s not too late to volunteer.”

Put in a four-hour shift, and you can get a free day-pass to the festival. Work three shifts, and you can get a t-shirt and a three-day pass, she said.