Walk the Plank to Pirate Fest this Weekend

Pirate Festival organizers have two new reasons to be excited about the event this weekend: added explosions and the weather.

"The thing I'm most excited about — and I don’t want to jinx myself — is the weather forecast," Producer Sackie Krikorian said.

Krikorian has been part of the planning of the event since its second year. He said the event has seen some gloomy days, but thankfully the fest's dedicated vendors have always stuck around.

Fest organizers have also scheduled additional stunt invasions in , aka Scoundrels' Mound. The traditional stunt invasion, involving sword fights and pyrotechnics, is held at noon on Saturday and Sunday, Krikorian said, but the group will also hold another one at 4 p.m. each day.

"Basically we’re going to have twice as many cannon shots and gunfire," Krikorian said.

The fest starts at 4 p.m. Friday. From 7 to 8 p.m. Friday, 102.1 FM is going to be live from the Bucaneer Bash area, giving away free Summerfest tickets and other prizes.

The event lasts from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Sunday. J&M Displays is behind a fireworks display at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, and a parade runs through the streets of downtown at noon on Sunday.

Krikorian said he's always been too busy with running the event to stop and watch — he's heard the parade is quite the site.

"I’m told its one of the only pirate parades you’ll ever see," he said. "It’s probably over 100 pirates in the parade."