Maritime Day: Erasing That Yellow Line Down Bridgeway

An interview with Annette Rose

By Steefenie Wicks

This year’s Maritime Day event at Galilee Harbor seemed a fitting place to interview Annette Rose, the first person to head the Maritime Day event committee back in 1981.   Annette, a member of the Galilee Harbor Community Association for over 30 years, was the first waterfront candidate to run for the Sausalito City Council and win,  back in 1988.  Since then she has spent over 16 years of her life in elected office.  The last Maritime Day she organized was held in 1984 and at that time she was responsible for bringing the WWII Liberty Ship the ‘Jeremiah O’ Brien’ to Sausalito and having it docked at the Bay Model for public boarding and tours.

I began the interview with the question, why Maritime Day?

Annette explained that in the beginning Maritime Day was only for members of the Sausalito waterfront.  It was presented at the Bay Model as a two-day event and took place in May.  It was the first event of its kind in Sausalito and produced the first working waterfront directory that listed the names of waterfront businesses.   The event used the talents of all who would come and volunteer.  There was music, food, nautical films, lectures about the waterfront and authors who had written books about seafaring tales.  The San Francisco Maritime Museum sent over its crew to perform sea chanteys during the event and there were demonstrations of how to mend fishing nets and build a mast.

The event was the brainchild of Chris Hardman and a group called Art Zone.    Annette Rose, Chris Hardman, Phil Frank, Chris Tellis, Steward Brand, Mary Crowley, Joe Trois and Jack Van der Muelin were the members of this elite group who shared one common interest  … protecting the Sausalito working waterfront and its way of life.  They wanted to counter the negative destruction of Bob’s Boat Yard, with a positive move and the idea of Maritime Day was born.

Annette goes on to say that, although the first Maritime Day was for waterfront residents it was well attended by the residents from the hill.   It was only then that the importance of this event became apparent to everyone.   Maritime day was erasing that yellow line of separation that many felt was dividing the City between “them” and “us.”

“One story I will always remember took place after the first event,” she continued. “One of the moms from Gate 3 came to me with this story about the Sausalito PTA.  It seems that at the PTA meetings all of the parents voluntarily segregated themselves, meaning that the hill moms all sat together, as did the moms from Marin City and the moms from the waterfront.  But after the Maritime Day event, the next PTA meeting turned into one group.  As the moms all decided they wanted to sit together because the ‘them’ and ‘us’ had been erased.  Everyone wanted to know more about the waterfront and shared their personal experiences from the event that had impressed them.   But the big thing was how people could cross that yellow line down Bridgeway and realize that neither side harbored the monsters that each had envisioned.”

Annette’s last Maritime Day was in 1984 and I was there.  It was because of this memory that in 2005, as 30 year member of the Galilee Harbor Community Association, I was able to persuade the community to resurrect the event and for the past 7 years as chief organizer, I was able to bring the event back and help re-establish it as a annual waterfront happening.  This year I stepped down as organizer and with that I asked the first organizer, if she feels that the Maritime Day event is still as important as it was back in its early years?

“When you re- started Maritime Day again in 2005, this was a great gift to the community and once again showed how wonderful the people on the waterfront can be.  Members of Galilee Harbor have become great stewards of the public trust, because waterfront residents take care of the marshes, the sea birds, the sea lions, the star fish and the California rays that come around the boats when they hear music, this is part of your life everyday here in the Harbor and Maritime day opens up this waterfront experience and this waterfront neighborhood and helps people understand so much more about your existence.” She smiles as she continues, “ the bare bones of today’s event is the great music (much of it provided by talented residents), the wonderful fish and chips,  the nautical  flea market, the children’s area and the fabulous ships from the San Francisco Maritime Museum.  All of it enables people to have a birds eye view of what it’s like to live on the water, to be part of a waterfront community. People at Galilee Harbor have always been really good hosts  to the public and that’s so important. “

In closing she added, “You and I have been part of something that has become a historical and annual event, we put in the work and the time, now we get to sit back and see the fruits of our labor or the wakes from our bows.”

In recognition of Sausalito’s rich maritime heritage, the Historical Society is launching a self-guided walking tour along the Sausalito waterfront, entitled Sausalito Sets Sail.  At the same time, a new exhibit of sailing art and artifacts will open at the Historical Society’s Exhibit Room on the top floor of City Hall.  Launch date is Sept. 4.  More details will follow.

Annette Rose in 1988.

Photo by  Steefenie Wicks