Dory Days

The parade on Saturday

On the Saturday of Dory Days the parade forms at the Tillamook County boat landing on Sunset Drive in Pacific City. Entries line up in the order they arrive. The exceptions are the royalty courts and the traditional dories, which are given set places in the line. At 11 a.m. the parade moves off.

The 2026 parade, the 67th, ran on July 18 under the theme “Long May She Wave,” chosen for the 250th anniversary of the United States. Riders may hand out candy or toss it “gently (not thrown),” and only off the roadway. A 2016 photograph in the Tillamook Headlight Herald shows the Pacific City–Nestucca Valley Chamber of Commerce’s “best decorated” dory float rounding the corner onto Brooten Road. Trophies are given for Best Use of Theme, Best Use of Humor, Sponsor’s Choice, Doryman’s Choice, and People’s Choice, and one is called Landlubber’s. Parking near the staging area is scarce, so the organizers ask people to carpool or to leave their cars at Bob Straub State Park and walk over.

The fish fry and the fleet on the sand

The parade fills one day of three. Dory Days falls on the third weekend of July, July 17 to 19 in 2026, and is free and open to the public. Volunteers at the fish fry serve what the festival calls “fresh dory catch.” The weekend also has live music, a weekend-long artisan fair of local vendors and handcrafted goods, children’s activities, and a family treasure hunt hosted by Pelican Brewing Company. In 2026 the Pacific City Dorymen’s Association sold its merchandise at the northwest end of the Sportsman Pub & Grub.

The boats are on display all weekend. Pacific City’s fleet launches and lands directly from the beach at Cape Kiwanda, and Visit Tillamook Coast counts it among the few fleets in the country that still do. For visitors who want to see the tradition without going out on the ocean, the agency names Dory Days one of the best times to see the fleet up close. The Headlight Herald described the harbor as naturally protected and well suited to boats that launch and land from the beach. The dorymen’s association says more than 300 vessels call Pacific City their home port, and the town’s banners call it “The Home of the Dory Fleet.”

The Chamber and the Dorymen’s Association host the festival together. The festival describes itself as 100 percent volunteer-run, with proceeds going back to the two organizations. In 2016 Dave Larkins of the dorymen’s association said the proceeds support local scholarships, youth programs, and fish hatchery projects.

Sand kickin’ and story tellin’

On Sunday afternoon dory fishers gather on the sand for an event billed as “Dory Fishers: Sand Kickin’ and Story Tellin’.” In 2026 it began at 1 p.m. on July 19. Indoors, at the Kiawanda Community Center, the festival shows the exhibit “Launching through the Surf: The Dory Fleet of Pacific City.”

The exhibit grew out of a research project begun in the summer of 2011. Its partners were the Linfield College Department of Theatre and Communication Arts, the Jereld R. Nicholson Library, the Linfield Center for the Northwest, the Pacific City Arts Association, and the Pacific City Dorymen’s Association. They collected oral histories from people connected with the fleet. From that work came an original multimedia theatrical script and production, digital archives, scholarly papers and poster sessions, a traveling exhibit, and a visual art exhibit. Through the same project, Carol Miles Johnson prepared images of past Dory Days posters, which the dorymen’s association now shows on its website. The project’s own note says its collections are only a small portion of what will eventually be available.

A fleet older than the festival

The sources do not agree on how long dories have gone out from the cape. The Linfield project says fishermen and women have launched dory boats through the surf at Cape Kiwanda since the early 1900s. The Dorymen’s Association calls it a “100 year tradition” in one line of its home page and a “115 year-old tradition” in another. The Headlight Herald in 2016 wrote that Dory Days honors “a 90-year fishing tradition.” The project quotes Sally Rissel and Joe Noegel’s 2009 book Nestucca River Country, which calls Cape Kiwanda “the only place on the West Coast where hundreds of dories are launched through the surf.”

According to the project, major commercial fishing from the dories has given way to more recreational activity. The association writes that no other marine fishery is exactly like this one and that “similar ones have either declined or disappeared,” while the Pacific City fleet kept up with a century of technological change. The association itself was formed in 1996 and became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2004.

The festival is older than the association by nearly four decades. Dory Days dates from 1959. The festival’s history page says the parade grew from the working fleet, the families who built and fished the boats, and the neighbors who turned that heritage into an annual gathering. In the page’s words, the parade became “a moving snapshot of the community”: decorated boats, local organizations, royalty courts, and music.

In July 2016, in its 57th year, Dory Days became the 13th event designated an Oregon Heritage Tradition by the Oregon Heritage Commission. The others then included the Oregon State Fair, the Pendleton Round-Up, the Klamath Basin Potato Festival, and the Linn County Pioneer Picnic. A designated event must have run continuously for more than 50 years and must have a public profile that sets it apart from routine events. A banner was to be presented on the Friday evening of that year’s festival, which ran July 15 to 17.

“The Heritage Commission wants to recognize those traditions that have helped define the state,” said Eric Martin, the commission’s chair. Larkins put it this way: “Volunteers invite everyone to celebrate and understand the dory boat and the fishing tradition that is so deeply part of Oregon culture.” By 2026 the festival’s sponsor page counted 28 designated events in all.

The festival’s history page is meant to grow as old photographs, parade programs, logos, and artwork turn up. Each year adds new grand marshals, a new theme, new artwork, and familiar boats returning with fresh decorations.