DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997              TAG: 9704090427

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   40 lines

ECLECTIC MIX OF BOATS, BANDS SET FOR HARBORFEST

The African Queen, the boat used in the filming of the Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn movie, will be there. So will rock `n' roller Chuck Berry and country music outlaw Waylon Jennings.

This year's Harborfest '97, set for June 6-8 on the downtown waterfront, is shaping up as a rousing weekend extravaganza, with more food, music, boats and recreation on tap than ever, officials say. An estimated 200,000 people attended last year.

The City Council received an advance briefing Tuesday on Norfolk's annual summer kick-off from Karen Scherberger, executive director of Norfolk Festevents, which she said has assumed responsibility for the festival.

Scherberger outlined several goals for this year's Harborfest, including re-establishing a strong maritime theme and family appeal, creating innovative opportunities for local businesses and expanding its boundaries to include Waterside, Nauticus, the Portsmouth ``Seawall'' Festival, Spirit of Norfolk cruises and the Huntington Tug Boat Museum.

About five local restaurants will be serving seafood in the Nauticus Pavilion, for example, and there's talk of stocking the pool in front of Nauticus to allow for crabbing.

Boats have been the most popular attraction at past Harborfests, Scherberger said, and more than 50 have been scheduled to date, including the African Queen, which will come up from Key Largo, she said. The presidential yacht Sequoia also will be on hand, as will Navy and Coast Guard vessels and research and work boats from the Chesapeake Bay.

There will be a mix of musical styles, featuring such performers as Berry and Jennings as well as Tito Puente, The Spinners, Koko Taylor, Three Dog Night and the Little River Band.

Harborfest will open on a Friday night with a return of the Caribbean Street Festival theme, a popular attraction of past Harborfests that will feature steel drum bands, stilt dancers from the Virgin Islands and costumed dancers from Trinidad and Tobago. KEYWORDS: HARBORFEST

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