Flagship Niagara League officials are in the home stretch of planning for September's Tall Ships Erie festival.

Ten vessels and a six-story-high inflatable rubber duck are committed to appearing at the event Sept. 8-11 along Erie's bayfront.

The festival is part of the Tall Ships America Challenge Great Lakes series and is among nine scheduled summer Great Lakes Tall Ships festivals.

Tall Ships Erie will begin Sept. 8 at 4 p.m. with a Parade of Sail on Presque Isle Bay, led by the U.S. Brig Niagara.

Festival activities include onboard tours and day sails, live entertainment, children's activities, a festival marketplace, food and a beer garden. �

"We actually feel pretty good about where we are because we have a great team of staff and volunteers who are helping,''�Flagship Niagara League Executive Director Shawn Waskiewicz said. "All 1,000 of our VIP tickets have been sold out since around July 4. They are sold out two months prior to the festival, so that's really good news. There's a high demand for those.�Eleven ships would be our maximum, and we're looking at confirming one more day sail vessel.�Almost all of our day-sail vessels are sold out. We have three day-sail vessels and that's why we're looking to add a fourth because there's such a high demand for those sails.'' �

What is expected to be Tall Ships Erie's star attraction is an appearance by El Galeon, a reconstruction of a 16th-century Spanish galleon. The three-masted wooden vessel is 170 feet long. The ship's home port is Seville, Spain.

"El Galeon is impressive just from her sheer size,'' Niagara Senior Capt. Walter Rybka said. "She represents a ship of the 16th century, but a modern representation of it. She's impressive. It reminds us they were building very substantial vessels, and that in that far-off period, the ships like this did exist and were going around the world.'' �

This summer marks the first time El Galeon is sailing on the Great Lakes, Waskiewicz said.

"She has five different decks aboard her, which makes her tall,'' Waskiewicz said. "I was at the Chicago Tall Ships Festival and she was the fan favorite. At the Bay City, Michigan, Tall Ships Festival, there were lines up to three hours waiting for a half-hour deck tour, so she's the star of the show.''

Joining the Niagara and El Galeon are the Pride of Baltimore II; the Denis Sullivan, a three-masted schooner whose home port is Milwaukee; the two-masted brigantines Pathfinder and Playfair, each out of Toronto; the schooner Appledore IV, of Bay City, Michigan; the schooner Mist of Avalon, of Toronto; the schooner When and If, of Key West, Florida; and the schooner JAKAB.

Another attraction that is generating waves of interest is the scheduled appearance of a giant inflatable duck, billed as "The World's Largest Rubber Duck.''

The floating yellow duck towers more than six stories high, is 64 feet wide, 74 feet long and weights 11 tons. The duck is based in Duluth, Minnesota, where its owner, Craig Samborski — a friend of Waskiewicz�— manages a Tall Ships Festival.�

Waskiewicz said the duck will be shipped to Erie and inflated, a process that takes about four hours. The duck holds about 3,000 gallons of water in its belly for ballast. It will be tied up near the Bayfront Convention Center.

"We sold $12,000 worth of tickets the week after we made that announcement (in May) that the duck was coming,'' Waskiewicz said. "We were trying to find something that was different and something unique that would kind of spark ticket sales. People want to ride the duck. We've gotten all kinds of emails and phone calls.''

Five tour attractions — El Galeon, the Niagara, Denis Sullivan, Mist of Avalon, and the World's Largest Rubber Duck�—�will dock at the Bayfront Convention Center.

Three tour ships — Pride of Baltimore II, Pathfinder and Playfair�—�will dock behind the Erie Maritime Museum. Three vessels scheduled to provide day sails — Appledore IV, When and If, and JAKAB�— will�dock at Dobbins Landing. �

Sept. 8 activities will revolve around the Parade of Sail.

Sept. 9 is restricted to activities for school groups from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., bus groups from 2:30 to 6 p.m., and those who purchase a day pass online�in advance.�

The festival, presented by Highmark, is open to the public Sept. 10, from 10 a.m. to to 6 p.m., and Sept. 11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A vendor show is scheduled Sept 9-10 until 7 p.m. each day at the Bayfront Convention Center.�

A weekend pass (general admission for Sept. 10 and 11) is $22. Day passes for Sept. 10 and 11 are $14 per day. A Sept. 9 day pass, which will only be sold in advance online, is $8.�

All ticket prices are the same from the 2013 Tall Ships Erie festival. That event drew around 83,000 spectators and raised�about $450,000.

"I think the real thing about this event is for people to ask the people on the ships what they do educationally and what their mission is,'' Rybka said. "A tall ships festival gives people a glimpse of what this is. Trying to explain a ship at the dock is like trying to explain the violin to somebody who's never heard one. I think some of these ships might not look that impressive, but they're really hardworking vessels that do a very good program and they go all over the lakes.''

Ron Leonardi can be reached at 870-1680 or by email. Follow him on twitter at twitter.com/ETNleonardi.

Sept. 8-11

Tickets: Purchase tickets at www.tallshipserie.org, at the Erie Maritime Museum gift shop, or at Country Fair locations.

Transportation:�Shuttle buses will run from the Intermodal Center to the Erie Maritime Museum to the Bayfront Convention Center on a 20-minute continuous loop; from Liberty Park to the Bayfront Convention Center to the Erie Maritime Museum on a 30-minute continuous loop; and from the Lincoln Avenue Park 'N Ride to the Bayfront Convention Center to the Erie Maritime Museum on a 30-minute continuous loop.

�Security:

All festivalgoers will be screened at entry.No outside food or drinks permitted inside Bayfront Convention Center or Erie Maritime Museum.No large bags or coolers.No weapons, including firearms or knives, will be permitted.Baby food must be contained in plastic containers or original packaging.A cooler no larger than 5 quarts may be brought in for baby food, formula or medicine only.No pets; medical assistance guide dogs are permitted.Everyone must have a ticket or credential to enter the event.

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