While New York may have a great yearly tug boat race, I recently discovered that Halifax harbor has a real Theodore Tugboat.

In the 1990s, “Theodore Tugboat”, was a Canadian kid’s TV show about a harbor tug in the “Big Harbor”.  In the late 90s it was picked up by US television.  Using radio controlled model tugs, it was sort of a maritime “Thomas the Tank Engine“.

In 2000, a 65 foot harbor tug, the Theodore Too, was built in Halifax.   It is a full-size replica of the scale model of the tug used in the original series.  Theodore Too is currently operated as harbor tour boat – Tour the Big Harbor.

The “Theodore Tugboat” program was filmed in Halifax, Canada and the “Big Harbor” where Theodore and his friends worked was modeled on Halifax Harbor. For those of us a certain age, the show was also fun because the host, the Harbormaster, was Denny Doherty, who once was member of the 1960s rock group, the Mamas & the Papas.