Driftwood Show Glass Float Hunt postponed, so Maritime Museum fills gap with showcase and clean-up
Published 4:35 pm Monday, March 29, 2021
By David Haerle
The Daily World
An annual April event for almost six decades — like a lot of things, until the pandemic — this year’s Grayland Driftwood Show & Glass Float Hunt has been postponed until late August (fingers crossed)!
The last time it was held was the first weekend of April in 2019, the event’s 57th year.
The 2021 Driftwood Show is now scheduled to be held Aug. 28-29 at its usual venue in Grayland.
In the meantime, there will still be time to celebrate beach combing and glass floats this weekend at the Westport Maritime museum and along the shores of the South Beach.
“August — that’s kind of outside of beach combing season,” said John Shaw, director of the museum, which has partnered with promoting the annual Driftwood Show.
”February through May are generally what we consider float season. In the summer, the surf’s not so high, so there’s not as much stuff coming in,” added Shaw.
With that in mind, Shaw talked to some of the float collectors and experts who normally gather here each spring, and they decided to hold a safety-first oriented event this year — as a sort of hold-the-date reminder for the normal event.
So now, the Westport South Beach Historical Society is sponsoring a beach clean-up — the “Dash for Trash” — as well as a wild float hunt of local beaches and a “Float Collectors Showcase” at the museum. From 10 a.m. until 4.p.m. Saturday, museum guests will be able to visit with a group of renowned float collectors, see unique floats displayed in the Lens Hall and Maritime Museum and have a chance to buy, sell and trade with the experts. There will also be expert appraisals of guests’ beach-combing treasures from past and present.
The event will not include food or other activities — just a safe celebration of beach combing and collecting glass floats. The museum will operate under protocols established with the State Historical Society for Museums and engagement during COVID-19 guidance. Organizers ask in advance that guests understand that docents may limit numbers as needed in each of the three areas.
Meanwhile, volunteers can and will fan out to cleaning locations along the South Beach — with cleaning locations at Westhaven, Ocean Avenue, Twin Harbors, Grayland Beach and Warrenton-Cannery Road.
Volunteers wishing to collect and turn in their trash — and a chance for the large float drawings — should return their collected material to the Maritime Museum by 2 p.m. Saturday. Bags can be checked out at the Maritime Museum this Friday and on Saturday morning. The clean-up event is co-sponsored by Surfrider and Blackbeard’s Pizza.
As for the hoped-for Grayland Driftwood Show & Glass Float Hunt in August? Organizers are now accepting vendor applications for the Aug. 28-29 event. Visit graylandcommunityhall.org for additional information.
