Every year the Port of Oakland throws a party to honor its waterfront and invites the City to come and party down. This year the bash was bigger, better and just plain badder than ever, confirming Portfest as the undisputed Champion of San Francisco Bay waterfront celebrations.
Published: July, 2003
An early-morning waterfront fog was the only visitor to PortFest 2003 that didn’t stay long as the sunny June 7th event attracted more than 30,000 couples, parents, children, vendors, performers, and music lovers to Oakland’s Jack London Square and adjacent Howard Terminal.
Coordinated by the Port of Oakland’s Communications Division, PortFest 2003 was the largest-ever, as more than 25-acres of the currently unoccupied terminal was used to accommodate more entertainment stages, vendors, and exhibits.
The crowd’s early enthusiasm did not wane as lines of people with cameras and windbreakers scooped up the 1,000 free harbor tour tickets in less than 30 minutes, as others, toting picnic baskets and blankets, scurried for good spots near the main stage on the Square’s meadow.
"This was better than we had planned," said Harold Jones, director of the Communications Division, about this year’s annual party along the estuary which also included an animal petting zoo, pony rides, an air show, muscle cars, catfish, gumbo, and even bicycle parking valet for those that peddled in. "It looks like everybody had a safe, fun time and learned a little bit more about the Port of Oakland and the important contributions we make in this community."
Port Day began in 1935 and was celebrated in conjunction with National Maritime Day. During the past several decades, PortFest has not only entertained thousands of Bay Area residents, but also offered to educate them about the Port’s maritime, aviation and commercial real estate divisions.
Representatives of those divisions offered interactive and information booths that shared information about their duties in the Port’s operation. Live crane demonstrations and U.S. Customs container screening vans were also in operation for those curious to learn more about the bustling maritime activity.
The only thing that seemed to rival the swooning of Oakland’s own Lenny Williams or the intimate energy of headliner Oleta Adams’ performance, was the Kid’s Kulture Korner’s face painters, who greeted the children who waited in a long line to be canvassed.
Besides the fun, the Port of Oakland and its sponsors awarded $25,000 to five Bay Area nonprofit groups: Safe Passages for Youth, the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA), the Native American Health Center, West Oakland Community Collaborative, and the Unity Council Family Literacy Project.
