This upcoming weekend features Fairhaven’s annual festival dedicated to the memory of “Dirty Dan” Harris, the colorful and occasionally shady founder of Bellingham’s “sister city,” Fairhaven, on the southern end of Bellingham Bay. To learn more about the life and times of Dan Harris, visit local historian Ralph Thacker’s website.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:

• Saturday: Games and contests for the whole family on the Village Green; charter sailing yacht tours; motorcycle parade and show.

• Sunday: The Dan Harris Challenge, rowing, paddling, and kayak races on the waterfront. Chowder cook-off on the Village Green 2-4 pm.
• And at 4:00 PM…the uphill *gasp* Piano Race.

Thinking of Dirty Dan Harris and chowder calls to mind a verse from Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.” Whitman was a lusty, earthy figure in his own right, heralding from the same general period, yet residing on the opposite shore of the U.S. in an adolescent Manhattan, near where Dan Harris was born:

Head over to Fairhaven this weekend. I think you’ll have a good time around the chowder-kettle.

Eyes wide shut, and looking kinda pale next to the
swarthy bust of Dirty Dan. I was relaxing in the May
sun when I became the subject of a candid photo-op.