What will become of their plans? "We tried everything we could think of to offer solutions to the port," said Ms. Bednarik, "We offered to rent a parking lot and shuttle our visitors in, we offered to dock at the international dock to the east, we offered to pay the moorage of fishing vessels. Everything we suggested was met with a flat 'no.' We had no idea there were any issues until May 30th. The discussion and decision occurred without our organization."
"At this point, we have no choice but to contact all of our ticket holders to issue an exchange or refund. To all the people who were planning to come see us- please know we are so sorry this is happening. For ticket holders, we will send you an email. You can still join us for a sail, we are asking Astoria and Tacoma for dock space in July."
Public comment at the May 29 meeting about the tall ships' visit focused on concerns about parking availability and congestion on the dock.
Fran Mathews, Owner of Marine Discovery Tours, commented "Why are they here in Newport in July? They're from the state of Washington, they have other ports of call that they go into."
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The crew of the Hawaiian Chieftain waves from the jibboom
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What happens next for the tall ships?
Sea School Northwest Program Director Hali Boyd traveled to Newport on Monday, June 4th to be present for a Port Commissioners meeting and an evening meeting of the City Council, but no solutions were found.
"Like many working mariners, I got my start at Grays Harbor Historical Seaport," said Capt. Boyd. "We were planning an open house for the Newport visit, to offer local residents scholarships to come and train for careers at sea. When we were in Newport in April, we were here for 11 days and we did 11 education programs and gave over $5,000 in scholarships to local schools. A great deal has been lost for the Newport community because of the choices of the Port of Newport."
Though the Port stated the July cancellation doesn't mean they don't ever want the tall ships back in Newport, at the time of this release they had offered no future arrangement to the Historical Seaport.
Regarding those future visits, Executive Director Brandi Bednarik said, "[Grays Harbor Historical Seaport] cannot take the financial risk of a short notice cancellation happening again. We owe it to our students and the public, who plan their visit to the ships months in advance. To ask that a working vessel make a last minute reschedule that impacts over 2,100 individuals, it's not possible for a nonprofit of our size. The negative consequences of this for our organization are deep and long-lasting, and we won't be able to take on the risk of visiting Newport again."
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"We're in shock. This decision by the Port has changed our whole year," says Executive Director Brandi Bednarik, "We're a nonprofit. Our vessels travel the west coast all year offering field trips for kids, teaching maritime job skills to adults, and taking people sailing. I was dismayed to receive an email on May 30th from the Port of Newport stating our moorage agreement was being revoked. The lack of notice puts our organization in a terrible position." 
