New events spice up 19th Regatta
MUDDY CREEK TWP — For nearly two decades the annual Regatta at Lake Arthur has drawn thousands of visitors to Moraine State Park.
That tradition continued this weekend, with an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people expected to visit the park over the festival's two days, Saturday and Sunday. Last year nearly 18,000 visitors were drawn to the park by the event.
On Saturday afternoon cool and breezy weather ushered people onto Lake Arthur's South Shore, where a variety of land and water-based activities awaited them.
“Our mission is to be the premiere, all-ages, eco-recreational event in the region,” said Holly Muchnok, the event's director. “If you enjoy being active in the great outdoors, this is a weekend you simply don't want to miss.”
Throughout its 19-year history the regatta has always catered to the outdoors-minded, with ecotours, kayaking lessons and guided boating adventures around the lake. But this year event organizers added even more events to the mix, including a battle of the bands, catamaran boat rides, and a long-awaited diving dog competition that's been in the works for several years.
As sailboats plowed across Lake Arthur in a Le Mans-type race and the Steel City Horns lit up the regatta's main stage with cool jazz driven by trumpet and saxophone solos, parents and children had their pick of eco-friendly activities.
Some piled into tents to sign up for paddleboard and kayak lessons being given by SurfSUP Adventures, a Pittsburgh-based company that provides paddleboard ecotours at Moraine.
Others filed through a live animal exhibit being put on by the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission which gives people a chance to rub elbows with reptiles and amphibians they might otherwise avoid — or even fear.
Matthew Ward, a biology aide in the department of wildlife and fisheries, said the department had brought out three species of snakes, about 10 species of turtles, and three species of amphibians to show people.
But the highlight of the exhibit was a 4 1/2 foot eastern black rat snake that titillated many children, who got the opportunity to hold the animal if they wanted to. Growing to a length of up to 8 feet long, the black rat snake is one of the largest species native to Pennsylvania, Ward said.
Joe Warner of Oakmont chuckled as he watched his two daughters, 6-year-old Gabby and 3-year-old Aubree, let the snake curl around their arms as they listened to Ward talk about its habits and habitat.Warner said he just wanted his children to enjoy the day and have a chance to experience all the park had to offer. He was surprised they decided to hold the snake, and even more so when Aubree nonchalantly draped the animal over her shoulders for pictures.“I like to have them try new things,” he said. “Just let them experience it — even if they just look at it up close.”Next door at a tent sponsored by the Home Depot, children and families created a racket as they built and painted birdhouses as part of a two-decade-long program the company sponsors annually. Chuck Caputy, who sits on the initiative's board, said that the group expects to go through 1,200 birdhouse kits over the regatta's two days, so that parents like Shawna and Brad Leighty and their daughter Jewel, 5, can take home something they built with their own two hands.Jewel, who is fascinated by birds, said she hoped that a blue jay would choose to live inside the house she was building.And the Leightys, who are frequent visitors to the park but have never before been to a regatta, said the event was a hallmark of why they love Moraine.“We just like being by the water and outside,” said Shawna Leighty. “I think they (the park) just have a lot going on. It's an awful lot for families to do.”The attention-grabbing event on Saturday was the Dock Dogs, an aquatic canine competition that drew dozens of dogs and their owners — from serious competitors who travel across the country to put their dogs' skills to the test, to first-timers who entered the competition on a whim — to the park. As of Saturday afternoon nearly 70 dogs had already jumped in various divisions of the competition, which featured a long jump, a high jump, and a speed retrieval category. And the first day of the two-day event wasn't even over yet.
Those competitors included Kevin McAfee, a captain in the Butler Fire Department who has been jumping with his dog Luna, a lab mix, for nearly eight years now.McAfee and Luna have been members of Three Rivers Dock Dogs, the group which hosted the regatta event, for years. But unlike some more competition-minded members, he doesn't travel often for events.Instead McAfee, who has been working for years to get the Dock Dogs competition off the ground at Lake Arthur, likes to do what he can to help spread the word about canine water sports.Sitting under a canopy tent near the 20-foot-by-60-foot tank where dogs leap and fetch, McAfee said the club was overjoyed by the competition's turnout.“For a first time event, you just don't know,” he said. “You're either going to get a good turnout or just your club members. And it's really come together.”
