Waterford is not the only town to host a gathering of tugs. Olympia, WA hosts a Vintage Tugboat Show, Portland, ME holds a tugboat muster and New York City hosts the annual Great North River Tugboat Race. So when Capt. Stephen R. Wunder, standing in the wheelhouse of the Tug Waterford, suggested a “tugboat rodeo,” John Callaghan, lifelong Waterfordian and then tug captain, thought Waterford would be the perfect location.
John had recently attended a tugboat muster in Kingston, NY as a crew member of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Wire, a regular Tugboat Roundup participant. There he met other tug captains and maritime industry professionals, including longtime Tugboat Roundup supporter Rob Goldman. With his new tug community connections in mind, John approached Waterford’s Canal Development Committee Chairman Dick Hurst with the idea.
The waterfront was in the very early stages of its development into its current state. Dick Hurst, who would go on to serve as Harbor Master, was spearheading the revitalization efforts. Upon hearing the idea, he mused that he wasn’t sure people would show up to see a bunch of old tugboats – agreed that a good time could be had by all regardless – and then gave the idea his blessing and his support. And Dick’s support would be critical – from the moment he gave the event the green light he was all in: without the hours and nights and weekends he spent making the event successful until his passing in 2018, we wouldn’t be embarking on our third decade of this event.
Another early supporter of the event was Captain Bart Brake of Empire Harbor Marine. Says Callaghan, “he called me up and in his distinctively gravelly voice – finally honed through a tugboat life well-lived – informed me that Empire Harbor would be well represented at “your little tug muster.” Bart, like NYS Marine Highway, grew to be an integral part of the event and it seemed like it was the highlight of the year for him.” Sadly, Capt. Brake has since passed. The family of Bart Brake continues to support the event each year. The Roundup’s highest honor, the Bart Brake lifetime achievement award, is named in his honor.
The first Tugboat Roundup took place on September 11, 1999. Planning began earlier that year, as did construction for the promenade Waterford Visitor Center (now the Hurst Harbor Center). With 24 hours to go to the inaugural event– much of this construction site was a mud pit with orange construction fence running in all the most inconvenient places for any sort of public gathering. Rain had made a mud pit of the site, unsuitable for a festival of any sort. Callaghan and Waterford resident Craig Falcone shoveled stone dust into the muddy pond throughout the night creating a walkable surface for the morning.
Seven tugboats participated in the first Tugboat Roundup. The event started, as every one has since, with tug boat parade. Callaghan recalls “Paul Norton – who had practically grown up on the state boats – was at the helm of the Tug Waterford as we headed north from Troy for Waterford. It was a treat for me to have him on board and great to see him at the wheel – I know it meant a lot to him and I will always remember the look on his face. The look on both of our faces was puzzlement, though, as we approached the Waterford wall from Troy, leading a parade of 7 boats. Neither one of us could figure out why there were so many people up on the wall at Waterford. It took us a minute to realize the word had gotten out and they were there to watch the tugboat parade!”
The plan was to have the tug parade, open the tugs up to tours, and have a hot dog roast. That one-day event – construction site and all – could not have been more successful, other than running out of hotdogs. There was very little advertisement, yet many times more people than expected turned out to board the Waterford, Benjamin Elliot, Herbert P. Brake, Emil P. Johannsen, Crow, Governor Cleveland, and K. Whittelsey. Perhaps even more people carried their commemorative TBR mugs up the street to Keilty’s Emerald Isle for 50-cent draughts. The 50-cents draughts did not catch on as a tradition, but the mugs are still available at every roundup.
Tugboats pull at the heartstrings of the young and old. The event organizers discovered quickly that getting people to show up would not be a problem. The event grew quickly. It became a two-day, then three-day event and stretched along the promenade up to Lock 2. Festivals standards like vendors, fried dough, pony rides, and of course fireworks, have been added but at the heart of it, it is still a gathering of bunch of tugboats - large and small, old and new, commercial and recreational - and characters.
The Tugboat Roundup was managed by the Waterford Maritime Historical Society until 2011 when the Town of Waterford became the principal producer of the event. Unfortunately the 2011 roundup was cancelled in the wake of Hurricanes Irene and Lee, but the town has been producing and hosting the event in all the years since, except for 2020 when it was canceled due to COVID-19.
Tugboat Roundup now features over thirty tugs and other vessels, vendors, live music, kids’ activities, demonstrations and more, along a half mile stretch at the Hurst Harbor Center at the gateway to the Erie Canal. The Tugboat Roundup is made possible each year through the support of the Town of Waterford, the maritime community, numerous sponsors and volunteers.
