Pirate's Life

If not for an Interaction article submission in response to a “fads & fashions” call last winter, I might never have heard tell of an annual summer event held in Alexandria Bay, New York that was seemingly tailor-made for our swashbuckling six year olds. "Bill Johnston’s Pirate Days" is a 10-day festival of all things arrghh! Sam and Carter spent Saturday in their glory, helping the town commemmorate the exploits of a famous renegade who sunkthe British steamer, Sir Robert Peel, hid among the 1000 Islands, and was hunted by U.S. and Canadian authorities.

The first order of business was pirate boat building and some scouting of the local terrain around Scenic Park. The view is spectacular, overlooking Heart Island (with its famous Boldt Castle) and a thousand other island besides, and the town itself is carved out of the rock, which crops up along roads and sidewalks and just begs for clamouring.

We got a peak at the little riverside town while parading along behind Bill himself, as he lead the charge through the village to “gather pirates” for his later invasion. The boys looked great in their homemade get-ups of cut-off jeans, a couple of Jeremy’s hacked up business shirts, pirate head gear and a practised swagger.

After terrorizing the town, we headed to Capt’s Landing—a floating restaurant around the bay from the marina—for a hearty meal and the most entertaining view the kids have ever enjoyed. Even the flotsam and jetsam (mostly flotsam) was captivating to them. And needing to get your “sea legs” just to make your way safely to “the head” was an experience in itself. “I’ve never been to the bathroom while the room was moving,” Sam shouted from the Men’s room.

Back on terra firma, we found some beach-side shade and let the boys strip down to their cut-offs and play a while in the water. They threw a happy wave at the pirate ship as it sailed by—and then high-tailed it out of the water at the first canon shot! The roar and smoke of the ensuing battle between the pirates, the steamer and the shoreline defenders, filled the air for about half an hour. Then the mayor was captured and made to walk the plank, at which point he surrendered the key to the village to the invading mauradeers. Moored alongside Scenic View Park, the pirates share the booty with the villagers (us) by flinging strings of beads into the crowd. Everyone’s a pirate!

A really hot and thirsty pirate! We headed back into town for some ice cream and a look-see at all the decorations and wares the local merchants have on display for this, their biggest event of the year. It’s crazy how happy a pair of boys can be to pick out a $3 pirate set complete with sorta-operational compass, a kinda-works spy glass and a(nother) plastic sword. Who doesn’t love a town that had streetside kiosks featuring all things skull-and-crossbone?

The two “ching-changed” in swordfight back to the car and kept up the imaginary adventure all the way home—including the hour-long stop at the 1000 Islands Skydeck, which was actually the world’s biggest crow’s nest, and whose playground featured pirate ship monkey bars and pirate ship spinny structures (at least to their minds). In fact, as we pulled in the driveway 10 hours after getting this trip underway, Sam turned to Carter and asked “So, what do you want to play? Pirates?”