Channel Parade of Boats to Launch Seafest : Celebration: John Wayne films and the Balboa Arts and Music Festival will be part of the yearly festivities.

The Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce will host its annual Seafest starting this weekend.

Events scheduled for opening night, Friday, include a John Wayne film festival. The screening begins at 6 p.m. at the Edwards Fashion Island Cinemas, and there will be a second showing at noon Saturday.

The Seafest will also feature a free parade for the eighth annual Wooden Boat Festival. The event starts at 5 p.m. at the entrance to Newport Harbor and will run up the main channel to the Lido Village turning basin.

Saturday highlights include the Balboa Arts and Music Festival from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the foot of the Balboa Pier. Dozens of local artisans will show off their creations of jewelry, paintings, dolls, woodworks and pottery against a backdrop of music and dance performances.

The day’s music schedule begins with a children’s program called “Dance City” at 10 a.m. and a children’s concert by singer Greggy Dee at 10:30 a.m. The music will take a Latin turn at 11:45 a.m., when the Susie Hansen Band performs. Oasis Senior Center’s Ukelele Strummers will perform music from the 1930s at 1 p.m., followed by a surf band, the Chantays, at 1:45 p.m. Big band music takes the stage at 4 p.m. with the Sounds of Swing.

Also on Saturday, adventurous pairs can take their chances constructing vessels and racing them on a short course around a buoy in the Nail & Sail Boat Building Contest. Landlubbers can tour tall ships and other wooden boats. Sailors can show off their skills and compete for prizes in the sailboat regatta from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Children’s events scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday include the Davey’s Locker fishing tournament, a “Pog Party,” a model boat building school and a costume contest from 2 to 4 p.m. On Sunday, the Balboa Branch Library will host a children’s program at 2 p.m.

Sunday-only events include a sandcastle contest at Corona del Mar State Beach from noon to 3 p.m., outrigger canoe racing at Newport Dunes from noon to 6 p.m. and a “White Linen and Jazz” performance at the Hyatt Newporter Amphitheater from 4 to 8 p.m.

Other events include an antique symposium on Via Oporto and Central Avenue in Lido from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday at Marina Village; the sixth annual Taste of Newport restaurant festival Friday through Sunday at Fashion Island; a kite festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Balboa Peninsula Park; the Pier Swim at 11 a.m. Saturday, followed by the Voyagers Celebrity Yacht Club Challenge at 1 p.m., both at Newport Pier; and the Newport Seafest 8K, 4K and 2K runs from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday at Newport Dunes.