Weather cooperates for Regatta success
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Dark clouds and heavy rain hovered over Moraine State Park early Saturday morning.
Luckily for the 15th annual Regatta at Lake Arthur, the rain cleared up by 9:30 a.m.
This worked out pretty well for assistant park manager Jake Weiland. Heavy rain and other severe weather canceled the second day of last year's regatta.
“I'm extremely pleased to see that the weather is accommodating,” Weiland said.
The Saturday and Sunday event featured several activities and events, including the first ever Quest for the King Eco Relay Race, an 18-mile relay race featuring road cycling, trail running, canoeing and kayaking.
Food and craft vendors filled the Pleasant Valley Beach area of the park's South Shore and musical groups played both days. There was a full schedule of activities and demonstrations.
Saturday ended with a fireworks show, which Weiland said usually is the most popular part of the regatta. He said that tens of thousands of people could come to the regatta.
“It has been steady,” Weiland said.
This was the first time the regatta featured a canoe building workshop.
Tonya Oesterling and Garrett Weitzel of Butler could be found working on a simple, wooden canoe. They said they always go fishing in a canoe so they figured it would be fun to try to build one.
The couple started working on it Friday at 9 a.m. and continued working on it Saturday.
“It was hard bending the wood,” Weitzel said.
On Sunday, they would put it in the water to test it out.
“We're going to be praying to God that it actually floats,” Weitzel said.
Jessica Kinsey and Richard Cramer of Pittsburgh towed their daughter, Heaven Cramer, along with them to the event.This was their first time at the regatta. To complete the experience, they stayed Friday night at a nearby campground. Unfortunately, it rained all Friday night. Kinsey was happy to see the rain clear up in the morning.“We're hoping it stays this way,” Kinsey said.They were hoping to get on the lake and maybe fish a little bit. Richard Cramer was interested in doing a boat tour. Kinsey wanted to try kayaking, but her daughter wasn't having it.“Uh uh, not me,” Heaven, 7, said.Becky Riddle of Harmony was at the regatta because her daughter had a craft booth there, and she was going to help her.Early Saturday, Riddle got a chance to wander around and see what it had to offer.“The food is interesting and the crafts are wonderful. There's a lot,” Riddle said.Martin Sipe of New Castle said he was another first timer for the regatta, but he has been to the park many times. He was looking to see what kind of safety programs for kayakers were being offered.“I got a kayak, and I want to see what they had to offer out here,” Sipe said.Jay and Donna Straw of McKeesport said they were happy to see the rain had cleared up when they arrived.“It was pretty bad when we were coming up,” Donna Straw said.However, they had no real plan with what to do with the day.“(We're) basically just (going to) hang out, really,” Jay Straw said.
