Pirates Day In Barnegat Coming Up This Saturday

Swashbucklers, get out the skull and crossbones and polish up your swords. Pirates Day in Barnegat is coming.

The popular annual free family event kicks off at 9 a.m. on Saturday and will run until 4 p.m. at East Bay Avenue and Gazebo Park.

Pirate re-enactors like the Valhallas Pirates, Ye Pirate Brotherhood and the Sea Dogs will be on hand. Visitors are encouraged to wear pirate costumes and compete in the pirate costume contest at the Pirates Cove section at the Bayside Chapel booth.

The event is sponsored by the Barnegat Chamber of Commerce and the Barnegat Township Recreation Department.

Roughly 170 crafters and vendors will also be on hand, along with a number of live bands that will play throughout the day into the evening. Pirate festival food will also be available for purchase. The Masonic Lodge, First Aid Squad, Rotary Club, Boy Scouts, St. Mary and St. Paul Coptic churches, Serpico’s and Sweet Jenny’s will be selling food.

The ”Kids’ Zone” has been expanded this year, courtesy of Manahawkin Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram and Manahawkin Kia. It will include trackless train rides for children, bouncy houses, an obstacle course and gaming trailer.

The event will also include pet adoptions, a stilt walker and a child ID table offered by local police.

Free shuttle buses will run continuous loops all day from the Barnegat Municipal Complex and the adjacent shopping plaza, and at the back of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, on West Bay Avenue.

Pirates Day has also been celebrated through the years as “Proud to Be an American” Day. That patriotic theme is reflected in opening ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. There will be Color Guard observances, a parade, and a medley of patriotic songs by local favorite Jim Kelley, who encourage the crowd to sing along.

There is no rain date for Pirates Day. But the 7 p.m. concert will still be held, at the rain venue of the Brackman Middle School on Barnegat Boulevard North.

For more information, go to the Barnegat Chamber of Commerce website.