CRANBERRY TWP — The Lake Arthur Regatta this year is set for Aug. 6 and 7 at Moraine State Park.

Event organizer Holly Muchnok, president of East Wing Events, on Thursday spoke about the annual event at the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau board meeting at the Pittsburgh Marriott North.

Muchnok said when East Wing took over the regatta three years ago attendance was about 5,000 and its budget was about $10,000.

In 2014, the first year she was the organizer, attendance jumped to 9,000. Last year, attendance was 22,000, and the budget now is about $100,000.

“We are thrilled about the future,” Muchnok said.

Vicki Hinterberger, board chairman, asked if the event has any kind of long-term plan.

Muchnok said that with all of the short-term planning that was needed to get the event growing, that it has not really considered a long-term plan. However, this year she said the regatta is creating an advisory board to do more long-term planning.

Jack Cohen, president of the bureau, praised East Wing’s work.

“I think it’s worked out very well,” he said.

Jake Weiland, board secretary, asked if anything about the event has changed.

One development, Muchnok said, is that the Three Rivers Regatta in Pittsburgh is considering changing its dates from July 4 to August at the same time as the Lake Arthur Regatta.

But Muchnok said this is not a problem, saying she has spoken with Three Rivers officials about the differences between the two events. She noted the Three Rivers Regatta is for speed boats while the Lake Arthur Regatta is for canoes, kayaks and sailboats and is more family-oriented

“I don’t know if it’s direct competition,” Muchnok said.

She said the Lake Arthur Regatta is looking at maybe changing its final event from fireworks to something different.

Also at the meeting, Cohen reported that the bureau is forming a sports commission to bring more athletic tournaments to the county.

Cohen said some of the people involved include Sid Bream, a Zelienople resident and former Major League Baseball player; Vonda Wright, medical director of the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township; Matt Herr, executive director of the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex; and Seneca Valley athletic director Heather Lewis.

He said the sports commission will have a closed meeting in February to organize and begin discussions.