MIHPF Events

Join the Easter celebration at historic St. Peter's Chapel with the joyous choral music performed by the Cathedral Choir from Napa Methodist Church. They will sing a range of beautiful choral works including: You Do Not Walk Alone by Elaine Hagenberg, Non Nobis Domine by Patrick Doyle, and the Hallelujah! chorus from G.F. Handel's Messiah. Doors open at 2:30pm, giving you time to view the 25 luminous Tiffany stained glass windows in the Chapel. Tickets are by donation, with a suggested donation of $10/ticket.

Join us for our ongoing speaker series. Bathed in the light of the Tiffany windows of St. Peter's Chapel, come hear historian Tom Snyder walk us through the rich and colorful history of the Mare Island Shipyard Naval Yard hospital (now Touro Medical University) on Mare Island, including its battles against the Spanish flu and its position as one of the country's first and foremost centers for early prosthetics. Tickets coming soon.

Date and Time TBD (likely May): Join us at St. Peter's Chapel for the riveting tale of the USS Saginaw, the first ship every built on Mare Island. Author Hans Konrad Van Tilburg will lead us through a tale that includes fighting pirates, sweeping for mines, a shipwreck, and a perilous 1500 mile sailing journey in a hastily rigged whaleboat to initiate a rescue that sounds more like a movie than real life. Tickets offered as soon as date is finalized.

We're taking our speaker series on the road! Our own Dennis Kelly has been invited to present an overview of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard to the Benicia Museum. In Benicia? Grab tickets and come on by!

Mark your calendar for Founders day (September 16th was the day Commander David Farragut officially opened the Shipyard in 1854), where we celebrate the future, present and past of Mare Island. We are planning a series of historical events over the weekend (tours, a rededication of Alden Park's restored original flagpole, a panel discussion with diverse viewpoints of the Mare Island experience, etc), culminating in an afternoon of music and festive frivolity on the waterfront on Saturday.

PedalFest is a huge festival devoted to all things bicycle, a festival, kids bike rodeo, bike swap, family bike excursions, and anchored by the Mare Island Wet Mile Urban Cyclo-cross (think of an obstacle course on bikes, riding throughout the history of Mare Island). The Foundation will be conducting the "Lap of the Shipyard" family-friendly biking tours of the Island with stops for historic explanation along the way. All proceeds from Lap of the Shipyard to benefit the Foundation. See the PedalFest website for details.

We have booked Dr. David Winkler, Staff historian, United States Naval Institute, for a discussion of the incredible history of the USS Langley in 2024. Exact date and time TBD.