The Pride of Baltimore II, a reproduction topsail schooner, will be at St. Ignace Labor Day weekend to offer deck tours, a reception, and a Labor Day sail under the Mackinac Bridge. St. Ignace Hospitality Growth is hosting the ship, which will be at the Arnold Line dock, as it is too large to use the city marina.

A reproduction of an 1812-era clipper ship, the Pride II calls the Chesepeake Bay region home and is owned by the citizens of Maryland. The ship sails the globe to provide an educational platform about the maritime sciences and promote Maryland trade and tourism. Commissioned in 1988, she is a sailing memorial to her predecessor, the original Pride of Baltimore, which was the first Baltimore clipper built in 150 years when she was crafted in 1977. The original Pride of Baltimore sailed more than 150,000 nautical miles before she was struck by a freak squall and sunk off the coast of Puerto Rico in 1986.

Pride of Baltimore II will arrive at St. Ignace Friday evening, and offer $5 deck tours Friday, September 1, through Sunday, September 3.

A cocktail and hors d'oeuvres reception with deck tour will be offered Sunday from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., featuring entertainment by Mike Ridley. Tickets cost $50 per person. Proceeds from the reception will go toward bringing future tall ships to the city through St. Ignace Hospitality Growth.

Ahighlight of the weekend will be a Labor Day cruise, when the ship will take passengers under the Mackinac Bridge during the annual Bridge Walk. The five-hour cruise departs at 9 a.m. and will include lunch for $100. The cruise is limited to 34. Tickets to the Labor Day cruise aboard Pride of Baltimore II are available by calling David Swope at 643-9666.

Tickets to the weekend events are available from the Chamber of Commerce.

St. Ignace Hospitality Growth hosted the schooner Roseway at St. Ignace last summer. Roseway, built in 1925, is a National Historic Landmark and the main educational platform for the World Ocean School of Camden, Maine. Sponsors of the Pride of Baltimore II's visit, along with St. Ignace Hospitality Growth, are the Chamber of Commerce, Visitors Bureau, and Arnold Transit.