First ship revealed for Tall Ship Festival

The first ship has been announced for this summer's Tall Ship Festival in downtown Green Bay, and consider the early notice a chance to start practicing how to pronounce its name.

The Draken Harald Harfagre will be one of nine vintage ships docked at Leicht Memorial Park for the three-day event Aug. 5-7. Pronounced "DRAY-guhn, HAIR-old Fair-hair," it's the largest Viking ship built in modern times. It's 115 feet long, 26 feet wide and has a mast that reaches nearly 79 feet. It's rowed with 25 pairs of oars and will have a crew of 32 sailors when sailing the Great Lakes.

The Tall Ship Festival, presented by Baylake Bank and produced by PMI Entertainment Group, begins with an Algoma Sneak Peek on Aug. 3, in which the ships sail to the Tall Ships Challenge Race finish line and then head to the Sturgeon Bay Parade of Sail the same day. The ships will leave Sturgeon Bay the morning of Aug. 4 and arrive in Green Bay later in the day. They'll be available for tours or sail excursions while docked downtown.

The event is expected to draw an estimated 50,000 people and have an economic impact of $3.6 million for the Green Bay area. The last Tall Ship Festival at Leicht Park was in 2013.

More ships and festival details will be announced in coming weeks at tallshipgreenbay.com.

kmeinert@pressgazettemedia.com and follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert