Westport Coast Guard City celebration tentatively scheduled for late May

By Dan Hammock • February 5, 2020 4:30 pm
COURTESY WESTPORT MARITIME MUSEUM The Coast Guard City USA celebration in Westport tentatively scheduled for Feb. 7 will be postponed until later in May, around Memorial Day Weekend, to accommodate the schedules of officials who wish to attend.
COURTESY WESTPORT MARITIME MUSEUM The Coast Guard City USA celebration in Westport tentatively scheduled for Feb. 7 will be postponed until later in May, around Memorial Day Weekend, to accommodate the schedules of officials who wish to attend.

Westport was named an official Coast Guard City USA in August, becoming the first such city in Washington state and, according to Mayor Rob Bearden, the smallest of the 26 Coast Guard Cities in the nation.

A celebration that would include Coast Guard 13th District Commander Rear Admiral Anthony J. Vogt and the 13th District command cadre, was initially scheduled for Feb. 7.

However, a celebration of the city’s designation and its more than 120-year-old relationship with the Coast Guard has drawn interest from numerous elected officials, and Bearden said the date did not match up well with their schedules. The Legislature and Congress are in session, so the city decided to postpone the celebration until sometime around Memorial Day weekend.

As Bearden said, this would put the event around the same time as the annual Blessing of the Fleet, where those lost at sea are remembered and the commercial fishing fleet is blessed. The event is sponsored by South Beach Ministerial Association and WeFish, and is scheduled for May 24 at 1 p.m. at the Fishermen’s Memorial at the end of Neddie Rose Drive. The annual VFW memorial ceremony is scheduled for the following day, May 25, at Veteran’s Memorial Park’s Street of Flags at 11 a.m. This event is sponsored by VFW Post No. 3057.

More information about the Coast Guard City USA event will be printed when it becomes available. For now, expect to mark some time to attend around Memorial Day weekend.

Coast Guard Cities are those that regularly reach out to Coast Guard personnel and their families. The city’s efforts illustrate a longstanding and enduring relationship with an emphasis on considerations the community has made for the members of the Coast Guard family. As Bearden pointed out, the Coast Guard was “putting roots down in Westport” before the city was incorporated in 1914, dating back to the opening of the Westport Lighthouse in 1897.