MUDDY CREEK TWP - For the second year in a row Mother Nature smiled on the Regatta at Lake Arthur at Moraine State Park.

Even though Saturday dawned foggy and cool, by the time the events got going in the afternoon the fog had burned off and the sun was battling to poke through the clouds.

Approximately 30 boats, mostly sailboats with a couple of pontoons mixed in for good measure, cruised around by the Bear Run Launch as part of the boat parade.

The weather didn't get in the way of the Lowe's Kids Clinic or the children's fishing clinic on Pleasant Valley Beach on the South Shore, although the volleyball tournament field was empty by mid-afternoon.

On the North Shore, participants were busy displaying their entries for the Whatever Floats Your Boat race that was to be held on Sunday.

Ralph Graham and his daughter, Fontaine, of Butler spent Saturday afternoon putting the finishing touches on their entry, which resembled a long, black bug."This is our first year for the boat race," Ralph Graham said as he applied more black spray paint. "We participated in the kayak races for four years and decided to give this a try."The Grahams' entry was made with seven plastic 55-gallon drums plus plenty of gas and sewer lines.Ralph Graham said the two spent two or three hours a night, several days a week getting their vessel finished in time for the race."We didn't decide to enter until Aug. 4, so we had to work hard," he said. "It was just the two of us."The vessel was originally going to be only two drums long but the pair decided they needed an empty compartment between the ones they would ride in, then a head and finally a tail."We just kept adding to it," Fontaine Graham said.Just down from the Grahams, five friends from Pittsburgh were working to finish their vessel made out of cardboard carpet tubes."This is pretty neat," said "Captain" Tim Tresh as Jami Conn worked on the frame. "The spirit of the race is to make your boat out of something that doesn't normally float. No one expects cardboard to float very far."This isn't the first time the friends have entered the race at the regatta."A couple of years ago we made one out of empty 2-liter plastic pop bottles," said Melanie Gealey as she got help from Neal Saternos and Emily Stokes.Tresh said he and his buddies know their entry will eventually sink."Oh, it's going to sink, all right," he said. "It's made out of cardboard. We just need it to stay afloat for a half hour until we win the race."

Over in the amphitheater, Angel Blue and The Prophets were blasting through a 75-minute set of covers and blues-tinged originals. Blue, a native of Mars, left for a tour of the Outer Banks in North Carolina after her performance Saturday."We've been together for two years now," Blue said. "We are trying so hard to get heard but it's hard for Butler bands to get a chance to play in Pittsburgh. Hopefully this was a good chance to create a buzz.""I love songs that inspire you and come from the soul," Blue said. "Music today seems to be coming around full circle, which means back to its soul and blues roots. The blues are a foundation for what we do."Blue said an auto accident a few years ago broke her nose. Since she healed, "the sound of her voice echoes in her throat," resulting in a drastic change from a high voice she used to sing in the church choir to her present sound. She also takes inspiration from the death of her mother several years ago."I could sing before I could talk," Blue said. "Before my mother died she told me she wished I would do what makes me happy - sing. My face lit up like a Christmas tree."

Headlining the show Saturday night was the Corbin-Hanner Band. As a duo, Bob Corbin and Dave Hanner have written thousands of songs and helped make many national country acts famous.Alabama recorded two of the band's songs, "Can't Keep a Good Man Down" and "Fire in the Night" and both became number one hits. During the course of their career Corbin and Hanner have written eight number-one hits for The Oak Ridge Boys, Don Williams, the Marshall-Tucker Band, Mel Tillis and Glenn Campbell. Collectively more than 20 million albums have been sold that contained at least one of their songs.Corbin-Hanner's set ended at 9 p.m. as the Zambelli Internationale firework display lit up the sky. The crowd of several hundred people who had just enjoyed of full day of musical entertainment oohed and aahed the 20-minute show and applauded the finale.In the first annual Butler County Photo Contest that was part of the regatta, Harriett Grossman of Grove City won $500 for first place, Bonnie McCormick got $250 for second and Teri Miller of Butler got $100 for third.More than 40 entries showcased scenes of Butler County.Jack Cohen, executive director of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, the regatta's organizer, said he was impressed with the quality of the entrees and that the bureau wants to make the contest a permanent feature of the regatta.Regatta sponsors this year included the tourism bureau, the Butler Eagle, Butler County Commissioners, the former First National Bank of Slippery Rock, Armstrong Cable and General Rental Center.