WATERFORD — Shortly before 6 p.m. Friday, the tugboat Buffalo, with a bagpiper playing on deck, led a parade of boats coming from Albany out of the Hudson River and into Waterford harbor, on the first day of the Tugboat Roundup.

Capt. Tommy Doin said later that the 85-year-old boat, previously owned by the state and a private contractor, and now by the town of Waterford, was operating under its own power for the first time in five years. It’s been under restoration by volunteers, one of three boats connected to the Waterford Maritime Historical Society.

Another of those boats, the Chancellor, did not make the parade trip because of mechanical problems, but was tied up at the floating dock, where it was joined by the other boats. Charlie Chillemi, from Jackson, N.J., said he used to be the ship’s engineer when it was called the James Kehoe and moved oil barges from Perth Amboy, N.J., up the Hudson and Champlain Canal to Plattsburgh and Burlington, Vt.

He was one of many out-of-towners and locals checking out the boats, the food and merchandise booths, and the folk songs of George Ward on Friday evening. The weather was warm and sunny, although a bit too windy for the fire department to proceed with its planned spraying of water on the boats from a ladder truck as they came into the harbor.

Waterford town Supervisor Jack Lawler spoke at a brief opening ceremony, and said organizers would monitor the weather today to determine if tonight’s scheduled fireworks will go ahead or be canceled due to rain. If they are canceled today, Lawler said, they would be rescheduled for Sunday, weather permitting.

Roundup organizer John Callaghan said other scheduled events would continue, rain or shine, and urged people just to bring umbrellas if it rains. If it doesn’t, Callaghan said, organizers are hoping 50,000 or more people will attend the three-day event. Activities start at 9 a.m both days. A schedule of events is on the roundup Web site, www.tugboatroundup.com.

The roundup started in 1999, and has been growing in size.

Callaghan’s mother, Elizabeth, the Town Board’s liaison to the harbor visitor center, had only just arrived back in the Capital Region from the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, where she was an alternate delegate for John McCain. Elizabeth Callaghan said she was happy about McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the vice presidential nominee.

“I think she’s fantastic,” she said. “… I’m glad to see a woman, but it’s not just because she’s a woman. She has so much going for her.”

State Canal Corp. Director Carmella Mantello was aboard one of the parade boats, and stressed the economic benefits of the growth of tourism and special events on the waterways.

“The canal is booming and it’s alive, and Waterford is an example of that,” she said.

One of the largest boats in the parade was the Grand Erie. Eddie Suprenant of the Canal Corp. said the boat used to work on the Mississippi and had a pilot tower, which got taken off when the Canal Corp. acquired it.

The reason for that, said Mantello, was so it could get under bridges.

“Low bridge, everybody down,” she said, quoting the most famous song about the Erie Canal.

“It’s still used to push our dredges around,” Suprenant said. “It doesn’t draw much water. It can go most anywhere, which is very useful.”

Churches and nonprofit groups were selling food, mostly hot dogs, hamburgers and sausages. But the Waterford United Methodist Church had homemade fruit pies.

Asked what is his favorite canal song, as he packed up after playing his set, Ward said one he identified with is “Boatin’ on a Bullhead,” about an inexpert boatman who gets knocked into the water.