When the Hardware Distillery and Hood Canal Events teamed up to stage the fifth annual Fjordin Crossin festival on June 17 at the Port of Hoodsport dock and marina, the community responded.

Co-founder Jan Morris, who's also the co-founder of the Hardware Distillery with her husband, Chuck, said the festival drew 300 attendees, and more than 70 kayakers, paddleboarders and canoeists for the Paddle the Canal challenge, organized by Kerry Myers of Hood Canal Events.

"It was our biggest turnout ever, by far," Morris told the Journal. She noted that most previous Paddle the Canal challenges drew...