Eureka’s Old Town

1 a. Humboats Kayak Adventures b. Café Marina 2 M.V. Madaket Bay Cruises 3 Sailor’s Grave Tattoo 4 Blue Ox Boutique 5 The Sea Grill 6 Eureka Books 7 Many Hands Gallery 8 American Indian Art & Gifts 9 Eureka Main Street

10 Lost Coast Brewpub & Café 11 Scrapper’s Edge 12 Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center 13 Carter House Inns

Scrapbooking Supplies Rubber Stamps Altered Art Supplies Office Supplies Teaching Materials Copies & Printing Craft Classes

The Largest Paper Craft Store in Northern California! 728 4th Street, Eureka 707.445.9686

www.ScrappersEdge.net

Humboldt County’s Kinetic Grand Championship is a 3-day, 42-mile race along California’s North Coast from Arcata to Ferndale. Racers compete for glory, pedaling along roads, over dunes, and even through Humboldt Bay. Their vehicles, called kinetic sculptures, are all-terrain, human-powered works of art engineered to race over road, water, mud and sand. Many are animated, with moving parts such as blinking eyes, flapping wings or fins, and heads that look around.

The Kinetic Grand Championship is held annually every Memorial Day weekend. Entire families come out to enjoy the spectacle and cheer their favorite entries. The Eureka leg of the race occurs on the second day of the event, and includes an amphibious passage in Humboldt Bay near the Adorni Center. MORE INFO: KineticGrandChampionship.com Those who love large-scale art openings will enjoy First Saturday Night Arts Alive! when Eureka galleries in Downtown and Old Town coordinate art openings on the first Saturday each month from 6 to 9pm. Most businesses keep later hours for these events, and the result is a lively mix of artists, art lovers, family fun and shoppers. MORE INFO: Eureka Main Street, 707-442-9054, EurekaMainStreet.org

Electric City mural by Dan Kitchener, 211 G St., photo by Brad Curtis

OldTownHauntedHistoryTours.com RESERVATIONS

Eureka, California • (707) 672-5012 OldTownHauntedHistoryTours.com 45 Old Town Haunted History Ghost Tours The streets and alleyways of Old Town Eureka are believed to be among the most haunted locations on the entire West Coast. Old Town Haunted History Ghost Tours explore the area’s racy past and paranormal present. Each 2-hour, 1-mile long walking tour of Eureka’s historic red light district leads visitors along the waterfront, up and down the notorious “Two Street” where beautiful Victorian buildings once held saloons and houses of ill fame, and through the shadows of Opera Alley. Tragic lives and deaths of Eurekans past combine with the ghostly experiences of those who live and work in Old Town today to create a history tour with a twist.

Among the stories visitors will encounter are those of a suicidal bartender, a 1930s earthquake victim, a Prohibition-era gunfight in a speakeasy, Victorian hotels with numerous ghostly guests, a World War I veteran who met his untimely end in the Dreamland Roller Skating Rink, and the guardian spirit that protects its building from “that thing in the corner.” WHERE: Tours depart from Old Town Coffee and Chocolates at 211 F St. in Old Town. MORE INFO: 707-672-5012, on Facebook and at OldTownHauntedHistoryTours.com

46 Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides Perhaps the most delightful way to experience the Victorian seaport of Old Town Eureka is by horse-drawn carriage. Fortunately, that’s easily enough done. Brendan Fearon, who hails from the Victorian seaport of Liverpool, England, will happily take you on a tour of Old Town in his gloriously restored vis-à-vis (French for the “face-to-face” seats) carriage, pulled by either Jessie or Pearl, his Percheron draft horses. Carriage rides are offered year-round, but it’s a good idea to call ahead for an appointment during winter. Brendan has been driving carriages for three decades, and is as much a part of the experience as the horse, the carriage and Old Town itself. Witty and articulate, he is a veritable living guidebook. As you travel in and around the waterfront and past delightful old Victorians with ornate fronts at speeds of up to three miles per hour, Brendan will point out landmarks and relate tales of the history and culture of the area. This is sightseeing at its best, and an experience you won’t want to miss. Carriage rides are also available outside of Eureka. Thanks to his trailer, Brendan can transport horse and carriage to special events from Trinidad to Garberville. WHERE: 2nd and F Streets at Old Town Square, Old Town Eureka. MORE INFO: 646-591-2058, OldTownCarriageCo.com, or on Facebook.

photo by Katherine Survis