Good weather helps regatta draw big crowds to park
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Good weather spurred thousands of visitors to fill Moraine State Park this past weekend for the 17th annual Regatta at Lake Arthur.
It drew twice as many people as it did a year ago.
About 21,000 came over the two days, according to Holly Muchnok, president of East Wing Events, the company that coordinates the event. Last year, the regatta drew about 9,500 people.
“It literally more than doubled from last year,” Muchnok said.
There was ideal weather for the regatta unlike last summer when heavy storms poured on many of the festivities.
“Last year the heavens opened,” Muchnok said.
The regatta featured a variety of activities, many of which focused on teaching the public about activities that can be enjoyed at the park.
“Our goal is to celebrate the park,” said Muchnok. “The event showcases the variety of things there are to do.”
Those activities included kayaking, canoeing, sailing and paddleboarding.
“We try to keep the interests consistent with the park,” Muchnok said.
The regatta also included live music, vendors, children's activities, a car cruise, fireworks on Saturday night and the PDGA Disc Golf World Championship.
The sunshine was key to attracting large crowds Saturday and Sunday.
“I think this year is a real barometer for the event,” Muchnok said.
One of the fastest growing activities at the park is paddleboarding.
“It's basically an oversized surf board with a paddle,” said Ian Smith of Oakmont.
Smith owns his own surfing and paddleboard lesson company, SurfSUP. He provides lessons and tours at Moraine throughout the summer.
“You can paddleboard anywhere,” he said. “Lakes, rivers streams.”Micalla Mikus of Freeport was giving lessons on the rapidly growing fad.“If you can kayak it, you can paddleboard it,” said Mikus, who owns the Freeport Paddleboard Co.Mikus said it's an easy sport to fall in love with.“Just try it and you'll be addicted,” she said.Smith said he has seen more people becoming interested in the sport since he started his company four years ago.“People seem to know it's around now,” he said.Dave and Ruth Ann McQuaid of Ellwood City were teaching people about more common activities — canoeing and kayaking.They did so by playing what Dave McQuaid calls the “dead fish polo” game — where participants must stand in their canoes and try to fling a wet sponge into other players' canoes.There's more of a reason to play the game than just fun.“If someone's canoe rolls over — and I hope they do — then we teach people how to rescue,” McQuaid said, adding the participants have life jackets and are supervised during the drill. “That way no one is afraid of the water anymore.”The McQuaids also use Lake Arthur throughout the year to provide tours and lessons to a variety of groups.Dave McQuaid said the regatta is a great way to promote water sports.“It's a great event to spark interest,” he said.John Bridges of Gibsonia was with the Moraine Sailing Club speaking to people about Puddle Duck boats.The regatta hosted the self-proclaimed Puddle Duck World Championships.“There are probably about 1,000 of them in the world,” Bridges said. “We have about 50 in our area.”
A Puddle Duck boat is a homemade four-foot by eight-foot sailboat, considered to be easy to make.“It's a great family project,” Bridges said. “And it's a great way to get people into sailing.”Ken Sherwood of Indiana County and his daughters Clara, 15, and Cecilia, 13, picked up on the sport.“We got started years ago,” he said. “The girls were only 6 and 8 then.”The family visits Moraine numerous times to sail.“Moraine is the best sailing lake around,” he said. “It has good wind and is good size.”
