EVERETT – It may be eye patches and rabble-rousing instead of Captain Salty, but Everett’s summer festival could be back on.
This time, if pirate enthusiast Ken Boisse has his way, it will be called the Salty Pirate Daze Jamboree, a swashbuckling spin-off of the washed-up Salty Sea Days.
Kevin Nortz / The Herald
The closest tie Everett may have to the pirate’s life is a brief history of rum-running, but Boisse, 53, hopes the city and his festival will draw more than six dozen pirate clubs from around the country. He’s planning the festival for June.
City Councilman Mark Olson said he’s keeping an open mind.
“I think generally family-oriented events for the city are a good thing,” he said.
But this pirate may be more Captain Morgan than Captain Hook.
The festival would be a G-rated event with parades, carnival rides and the thrill of piracy, Boisse said.
Boisse announced his plans last week in a press release. He said he intends to produce the festival through his company, Tongue-In-Cheek Productions, which books bands and deejays for lingerie shows.
Boisse’s current venture is a monthly calendar, “Naughty Wenches 2006.” It features local women in revealing, pirate-themed costumes.
The “wenches” made their debut Friday at Lovers Lair in Lynnwood, where they signed calendars and pole-danced.
Boisse said the calendar has nothing to do with the festival, but the “wenches” will make an appearance, although not as a major attraction.
Instead, he expects pirates to dash through town, plundering shops and brandishing swords.
The public has no need to fear, Boisse said.
“The terms ‘raiding’ and ‘pillaging’ shouldn’t be taken literally,” he said. “This will be a family event.”
And it won’t take a treasure chest of gold to pull it off, Boisse said. His budget will be just $5,000, mostly through sponsorships he has yet to secure.
People who run the event’s carnival booths would pay fees to set up in Everett, he said. And out-of-town pirate groups would bolster the local tourism industry, he said.
Salty Sea Days ended a 34-year run last year after the city, amid deep controversy, withheld a long-standing $70,000 annual hotel tax subsidy.
If Boisse presents a solid proposal, the city will consider supporting the festival by handling street closures and other infrastructure, city spokeswoman Kate Reardon said. It’s unlikely that any festival would receive financial support from the city.
Boisse has a long history with local pirate groups. He was a Seattle Seafair Pirate for about nine years.
Seafair Pirates spokesman Mark Jensen said his group thought it best to part ways with Boisse in the late 1980s.
“We were not comfortable with his interaction with the public,” Jensen said.
In 1991, Boisse formed his own group, now known as the Pirates of Treasure Island. As captain, Boisse leads his pirates in parades and charity fundraisers around the Puget Sound.
“Ken’s a great pirate,” said Laurette Baker, a member of the group.
The Pirates of Treasure Island are family-friendly and tamer than other pirate groups in the area, Baker said. Her 12-year-old son is a member.
Although the pirate group, the proposed festival and Boisse’s calendar are separate, they complement each other, Baker said.
“The calendar is all about getting adults interested in pirates,” Baker said. “Kids already love pirates.”
Whether pirates can fill the void left by the demise of Salty Sea Days is a big question.
“It was one of the best festivals in the Puget Sound,” Olson said.
Everett has only tenuous ties to the world of piracy, said Margaret Riddle, a historian at the Everett Public Library’s Northwest Room.
British pirate Sir Francis Drake sailed along Washington’s coast in 1579, Riddle said. There also is some history of smuggling and rum-running on Puget Sound.
Whether Boisse can deliver a family-friendly festival is key, Olson said.
“My approach is to always give people the benefit of the doubt,” he said.
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
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