The Sturgeon Bay Maritime Week festivities continued Monday night with the Door County Mariner Honors Dinner. Co-hosted by the Door County Maritime Museum and the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club, the event honored Lt. j.g. Aaron Person of Coast Guard Cutter Mobile Bay as the Coast Guard Person of the Year. Stewart Fett received the Mariner Award, while Amos Lovejoy and Steve McNeil were each honored with a Posthumous Mariner Award.

Person was recognized not only for navigating an extended ice season on the water, but also for leading through a year of significant transition ashore. He led a crew of more than 30 new personnel through an icebreaking season that lasted more than 80 days.

Former Sturgeon Bay Common Council Alderman Stewart Fett was honored for his career at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, where he worked his way up through the electrical department from foreman and general superintendent to production manager before retiring. He is credited with leading a technological revolution at Bay Shipbuilding, helping vessels transition from gauges and switches to computerized systems.

Former Sturgeon Bay City Administrator Steve McNeil was recognized for his role in creating the Sturgeon Bay Coast Guard Committee and helping the city earn designation as an official U.S. Coast Guard City, one of the smallest communities in the nation to receive that recognition. In acknowledgment of the city's connection to the U.S. Coast Guard, McNeil also led the effort to establish Sturgeon Bay Maritime Week.

Lovejoy was honored as one of the peninsula's earliest settlers, working his way north from the Sevastopol area toward Washington Island. He is also credited with constructing the first vessel in Sturgeon Bay.

Maritime Week celebrations continue this week with the Salute to the Coast Guard Golf Outing, a special military-themed Concert in the Park and the U.S. Coast Guard Picnic.

Picture courtesy of Door County Maritime Museum