Thousands take to land, lake for annual regatta
MUDDY CREEK TWP — The 18th annual Lake Arthur Regatta had perfect weather this past weekend and a variety of activities on land and water for all ages.
Holly Muchnok, the event director, estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people visited Moraine State Park on Saturday and Sunday.
“We've had steady traffic all day long,” Muchnok said Saturday.
Organizers expected an even larger crowd Saturday evening for the Pink Floyd Tribute band Dark Side of the Moon, a laser light show and a Sirkuz Days Fire Performance.
A must-have at any regatta is a plethora of water activities, and the festival had a family fishing workshop, sailing and paddleboard races, and lessons for kayaking, windsurfing and paddleboarding.
Paddleboard lessons and races were hosted by the Freeport Paddleboarding Co. and SurfSUP Adventures, a Pittsburgh-based company that provides paddleboard ecotours at Moraine.
Kayaking lessons were run by the park staff, said Mike Shaffer, an employee at the park. They provided an opportunity for people to learn the sport in an hour. It's a fairly easy water-based activity, he said.
“Most 12-year-olds can do it,” Shaffer said, “And we've had people in their 70s that went out (kayaking).”
The park staff also offered an hour-and-a-half eco-paddle, where kayakers learned about the wetlands of the park, Shaffer said.
For individuals who wanted more of a challenge, Mike Henderson of Titusville offered windsurfing lessons. Henderson, who has been windsurfing since 1984, was joined by his fiancée, Tambra Sabatini, and her daughter, Natasha, who runs a blog about outdoors adventures at www.crossadventuring.com.
“I would say (windsurfing) is one of the most advanced water activities,” he said.
However, that did not deter people. Henderson said his lessons were fully booked by midday Saturday for both days of the regatta.
“It's sort of like golf. It's easy to get started, but it can take a lifetime to perfect,” he said.
One of those skills is “how to get the wind to work for you,” he said.
For those who wanted a more relaxing water activity, the regatta offered a family fishing workshop that the Patterson family of Butler took advantage of.Evonne Patterson said her family stopped by the fishing area first, joined by her husband, Karl, and their three children, Allyssa, 12, Elizabeth, 10, and Ruby, 6.While Evonne and Karl used to be frequent fishers, they slowed down after having Ruby, Evonne Patterson said. She loved the opportunity to teach Ruby how to fish, but she found snails instead of hooking fish on Saturday afternoon.For Karl Patterson, fishing is a way for the family to “get out and enjoy nature together,” he said.But for Evonne Patterson, catching something is pretty important too.“I always catch more than him typically,” she said.Aside from the water sports, the regatta had a number of land-based activities, including a booth sponsored by the North Country Trail Association, Wampum Chapter.The North Country Trail is a 4,600-mile trail that runs from the New York-Vermont border to North Dakota, passing through Moraine and McConnells Mill state parks.To raise awareness for the trail, the booth let patrons make their own walking sticks for a $5 donation, which cousins Neve Dean, 6, and Liam Blake, 7, did.For Neve, the best part was scraping the uppermost layer of bark from the stick before shaving the stick down to be soft, she said. And Liam enjoyed using the different tools to skin the stick, he said.Far more popular were “touch tanks” run by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. The tanks gave people an opportunity to learn about — and touch — snakes and turtles.Chris Urban, with the commission, said that most people's fear of snakes is learned, and the tanks provided an opportunity to help them overcome those fears.Despite snakes being a common fear, visitors came through the booth all day Saturday, according to Urban.Even park manager Dustin Drew's children could not resist the temptation of the touch tanks. Bodhen Drew, 7, held a black rat snake, saying that he loves snakes. He said he's seen quite a few around the family's house, which is in the park.There was even a 5-foot snake near the family's shed that Bodhen recently watched eat a chipmunk.“They're cool,” Bodhen said. “I like them because they don't have any feet but they can move.”Bodhen has plans to have a pet snake — but his father wasn't so sure about that.
