For twenty-something years, the point of Eastport's tug of war was the water. A rope stretched across Spa Creek from the foot of Second Street to Susan Campbell Park, judges perched aboard the Schooner Liberté, a helium blimp bobbing above the center line, and half the fun was that you could only see your own side. The other team was a rumor across the harbor.
That is no longer the shape of the day. With City Dock tied up by construction, the entire event has moved onto Second Street in Eastport, and it looks like it is going to stay that way for a while. If you own a home on the peninsula, this changes what your first weekend in November actually feels like. The tug used to be a two-city event that Eastport happened to host one end of. Now it is a block party that the peninsula throws for itself, and the rope is almost a supporting character.
The Change Nobody Voted On
The reason for the move is unglamorous. Because of ongoing City Dock construction, the entire event will shift onto Second Street in Eastport. Instead of stretching a rope across Spa Creek to City Dock, all the pulling action will take place along Second Street in Eastport, with teams squaring off for bragging rights.
If you moved to Eastport in the last two years, this is the only version of the event you have seen. If you have been here longer, you already know what is missing: once a year, local and national attention focuses on the Annapolis Harbor, or, as we like to call it, the Gulf of Eastport, for a competition unlike any in the world. The theatricality of a rope out over open water is genuinely gone for now. What replaces it is denser, closer, and easier to actually witness. You can now stand next to both sides of the rope. You can watch a heat end in real time instead of hearing it announced over a radio.
The trade is not nothing. The tug's mythology was built on distance. It is worth remembering, though, that the original friction that spawned all of this was also a public works project. The Tug of War was originally conceived by the residents of Eastport in 1997 when the City of Annapolis used the excuse of a "public works project" to close the Spa Creek bridge that leads to Eastport from Annapolis. This unprovoked act of aggression on the part of the City of Annapolis had the effect of cutting off Eastport residents and businesses from the rest of the city. Nearly three decades later, another public works project has pushed the tradition back onto the peninsula that invented it. There is a certain symmetry to that.
How The Day Actually Runs
The published schedule is more usable now that everything is in one place. A few numbers worth carrying with you:
- Registration opens at 10:00 a.m. on Second Street, with the first official tug set for the crack 'o noon.
- Teams are 33 tuggers. Participants must be 18 years or older to take part in the tug of war.
- Admission is free. Proceeds from vendors and sponsorships will go to local charities, continuing a tradition that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for community causes over the years.
- The festival corridor is Second Street itself. With City Dock tied up by construction, Tugfest is going all-in on Eastport. Second Street will serve as the main festival corridor, packed with food and drink vendors, local artisans, and family-friendly activities.
- Live updates run through the Where In Annapolis mobile app, which the MRE points to as its official day-of guide.
If you have never pulled, this is a soft year to try it. Team spots historically fill by word of mouth from Davis' Pub regulars and business teams, but the on-street registration table makes walk-ups easier than they used to be, and anyone can get involved: form a team and sign up to tug, volunteer to help run the event, or just show up ready to cheer, eat, and enjoy the music.
The rope itself deserves a paragraph, because it is the closest thing Eastport has to a civic artifact. It was built by Yale Cordage of Biddeford, Maine, especially for this event. With a replacement value (in 1998 dollars) of $23,488.50, it is one of MRE's most valuable capital assets. Eight people set it up. In its old configuration it ran 1,700 feet across the water and weighed roughly 800 pounds. On Second Street it does not need to do the same physical work, but it is still the same rope. Watch how it is coiled and laid out before noon. That part is quietly the best photo of the day.
The March, The Brass, And The Second Line
The music is what most residents underrate. In past years, the Eastport-side stage has moved through a full afternoon lineup: Eastport Elementary at 10:00, Naptown Sings & Plays at 10:30, Timmie Metz Featuring Tambo at 11:00, Naptown Brass Band from 11:45 through 1:15, the Eastport Oyster Boys from 1:15 to 2:00, Johnny Seaton & The Bad Behavior at 2:15, A Classic Case at 3:15, and Area 301 to close. That is a longer day of live music than most Annapolis venues program in a week, and it is free, and it is on your street.
The transition beat to know: at 11:45 the Naptown Brass Band does a second line from Davis' Pub to the site of the tug. All are welcome to join in with their festive garb, and if you're there early come join us for a pre-tug beer. If you have out-of-town guests, this is the moment to have them on the sidewalk. It is the most New Orleans thing that happens in Maryland all year, and it happens between your house and the corner.
"Like any great movement, the concept for the Maritime Republic of Eastport began in a local pub over a couple mugs of beer." — themre.org
That is the tone to bring. This is not a spectator sport with a program. It is a neighborhood in costume, on foot, for six hours.
Where The Money Goes
The reason the event outlasted the original bridge closure is that it stopped being a joke fairly early and started being a fundraiser. The MRE is a registered 501(c)3 organization. All funds raised by the Tug and other MRE events are distributed to various charitable organizations in the Annapolis area. To date, over $500,000.00 has been raised. The list of beneficiaries rotates. In recent years it has included the Blue Ribbon Project, which supports children in foster care and runs a booth at the event.
Two practical implications for residents. First, the vendors on Second Street are not filler. Buying lunch from a food truck on the block is functionally a donation with a sandwich attached. Second, sponsoring a team as a business is one of the cleaner ways to put a local company's name in front of every Eastport household in a single afternoon. If you run a business out of your Eastport home, or you know a builder or contractor who works the peninsula, this is a low-effort marketing move that also funds a foster care nonprofit.
What This Means For The Rest Of Fall On The Peninsula
The tug is the anchor, but it is not the only weekend the MRE puts on the calendar. The other one worth knowing is the spring 0.05K Bridge Run across the Spa Creek drawbridge, run with a starting cannon and a mid-course watering hole. Between the two events, Eastport has effectively booked two Saturdays a year that function as neighborhood-wide open houses. If you are new here, those are the two dates to have friends visit.
The larger point about the Second Street shift is that Eastport's fall used to be organized around a rivalry with the other side of the creek. It is now organized around itself. The Blackwall Hitch patio, Davis' Pub, the shopping center, the Chesapeake Avenue block where Eastport Kitchen serves breakfast until three, and the residential streets that flank Second all sit inside the same walking radius on tug day. For a peninsula whose founding grievance was about being cut off from the mainland, the current arrangement is a strange kind of victory. The party is entirely on this side of the bridge, and it is bigger than it used to be.
There is a version of this event that will come back to the water when City Dock reopens. The rope will go over Spa Creek again. The judges will get back on the Liberté. But the Second Street years, however many of them there turn out to be, are worth paying attention to as their own chapter. This is the tug as the founders would probably recognize it best: a neighborhood, a rope, a brass band, and a Saturday that has nothing to do with anyone else's permission.
If you are thinking about buying or selling on the peninsula and want an advisor who actually walks these blocks on tug day, Annapolis Fine Property is Brian Jacobs' boutique practice inside Coldwell Banker's Church Circle office. Reach out for a conversation about what your Eastport block is doing this fall, and what a listing or a search here looks like when it is handled by someone who knows the street, not just the market.
