BREMERTON — Downtown Bremerton was invaded over the weekend. Nearly two dozen pirates swarmed en masse after taking the leisurely trip across Sinclair Inlet on the Port Orchard/Bremerton foot ferry.

The Pyrates of the Coast are a crew of pirates who do community service and charity work around the state, country and even the Caribbean, and on Memorial Day weekend, the crew made port to be “goodwill ambassadors” at the Kitsap Harbor Festival May 28 and 29, according to Captain Hurricane.

The Port of Bremerton started the Kitsap Harbor Festival in 2008. It is a two-day, two-city festival with events in both the Bremerton and Port Orchard marinas. The Bremerton Boardwalk events included more than 50 booths with food, crafts and other items available for purchase. In the marina,  historic ships were docked, open for tours.

Venture Crew 1517 also participated in the festivities, bringing marine life to the surface to show off to festival attendees (in kiddie pools filled with water, of course). Sea cucumbers, snails and sea stars were in a pool where people could reach in and gently touch them while learning from the dive master and the two teenage divers who collected the animals about what they are. There was a second kiddie pool with crabs — that was a “look, don’t touch” pool.

In Port Orchard, there were also vendors, as well as a 5K and kid’s run, the annual Seagull Calling Contest, a chicken wing cook-off, music and more.

New this year was the Kid’s Zone, which featured activities related to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), in an effort to excite “children to become our next inventors, engineers and scientists,” according to a press release from the Festival.

Also in Bremerton was a performance stage, where the Synergy Dance Company, Bremerton High School Drill Team, Hula Halau Polynesian Dancers and more performed throughout the weekend. One act was courtesy of Pyrates of the Coast: the crew band, Knot for Sail.

“The best part (about being a pirate) is the community service stuff,” said crew member Stingray, “going to the VA Hospital, entertaining some of [the patients], children’s hospital, the Cancer Care Alliance … there’s so many different organizations out there. Doing food drives. Different pirates do different things.”

According to Stingray, there are about 14 different pirate crews in Washington, with the purpose of entertaining their audiences and doing charitable events and community service.

“I enjoy giving back to the people,” said Long Gone John, pirate crew member and harmonica player in Knot for Sail. “I’ve been volunteering for 30 years.”

Hurricane, captain of the Pyrates of the Coast, said their crew has been together for about 20 years, doing community service and attending festivals, visiting retirement communities and doing charity fundraisers and food drives.

“It’s kind of what we do,” he said.

Hurricane said the crew has traveled all over the Caribbean and all over the United States, doing what they do best — being pirates.

“I love meeting people and just finding out about their lives,” Hurricane said. “One of the fun things about being a pirate is you get to be the butt of the joke. So they get to be the star, and you let them shine in front of their friends.

“They may tell you the same joke you’ve heard 100 different times, and you [act] like it’s the very first time you’ve heard that joke.”

He said some of the best reactions come from their smallest audiences.

“The kids are fantastic,” Hurricane said. “Their eyes get wide and you can play with them so easily. And they try to one-up us and be top dogs, and it’s kind of fun.”

But despite traveling the world, there’s something special about making port in the Pacific Northwest.

“Everybody loves pirates here,” Hurricane said. “You go to some parts of the world or country and they don’t know what pirates are, and it’s kind of an unusual thing.

“But here, everybody welcomes pirates. They know it’s something different. And they know that’s really when the fun is going to begin.”

To learn more about the festival, visit www.kitsaphar borfestival.org. To learn more about the Pyrates of the Coast, visit www.pyratesofthecoast.com.