DOOR COUNTY — The Door County Lighthouse festival will return this spring with breathtaking tours of some of Door County’s most popular lighthouses as well as a few exclusive tours only offered through this festival.
The spring and fall festivals will take place June 12-13 and Oct. 1-3, according to the Door County Maritime Museum. The festival weekends include air, land-based, boat, and adventure tours that together reach all 11 of the treasured lighthouses of Door County and 3 of their lighthouse neighbors to the south.
Many of the tour excursions are unique to the Lighthouse Festival weekends, and provide visitors exclusive access to lighthouses not typically open to the public – Chambers Island, Plum Island and Sherwood Point Lighthouses, according to the museum. There are tours for all levels of activity and accessibility, though some tours involve hiking. Boat tours depart from a variety of locations around the Peninsula, including Sister Bay, Gills Rock and Baileys Harbor.
Lighthouse Festival tickets are non-refundable, except in cases where Museum staff, tour leaders, boat captains or pilots cancel a tour due to safety concerns. This policy would also include cancellation due to the pandemic, as deemed by the Maritime Museum staff.
Each lighthouse tour ticket includes free admission to the Death’s Door Maritime Museum in Gills Rock during the 2021 season. Tickets for the spring festival can be found HERE and tickets for the fall festival can be found HERE. Tickets will go on sale April 1.
Participating locations for the spring lighthouse festival include:
- Door County Maritime Museum, Sturgeon Bay*: 10am-7pm, all weekend
- Death’s Door Maritime Museum, Gills Rock*: 10am-5pm, all weekend
- Cana Island Lighthouse, Baileys Harbor*: 10am-5pm, all weekend
- USCG Canal Station, Sturgeon Bay: 10am-4pm, Saturday/Sunday
- Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, Peninsula State Park*: 10am-4pm, all weekend
- Baileys Harbor Range Lights, Baileys Harbor*: 11am-2pm, all weekend
- Algoma Pierhead Lighthouse, stop at the Algoma Visitor Center: 10am-4pm, Saturday/Sunday
- Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse, stop at the History Center, 217 Ellis St., Kewaunee: 12-5pm, Friday/Saturday
- Grassy Island Range Lights, Green Bay: 9am-5pm, Saturday/Sunday
*Please note, if you are doing a self-guided experience, there are admission fees at Door County Maritime Museum, Cana Island and Eagle Bluff Lighthouses. Donations are encouraged and appreciated at Grassy Islands Range Lights, Algoma and Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouses.