Ya simply gotta regatta Saturday on the Manatee River

Saturday will be a full day of free Bradenton Area River Regatta action starting early with the Hernando DeSoto Historical Society’s Little Angler’s Fishing Tourney on the Palmetto fishing pier.

And as the little anglers are tossing lines into the Manatee River at 8:30 a.m., hundreds of runners participating in the Saint Stephen’s 5K Fun Run will be traversing the Green Bridge.

That race starts at 8 a.m. and by 10 a.m., the regatta’s activities will be in full swing.

This marks the fourth year of the regatta and it’s become one of the largest water events in the Tampa Bay region in a short amount of time.

It started with a bang in its inaugural year but suffered in its second year due to poor weather. Mother Nature was kinder in its third year as crowd estimates topped 100,000, and the forecast for this year’s event is superb – sunny with temperatures in the low to mid 70s.

“Now we are back again and I hope it will be bigger than ever,” Bradenton Mayor Wayne Poston said. “When we first got the regatta going, it was a pretty dicey idea.”

Poston said the event was a two-day Fourth of July celebration when it was in Pittsburgh in the Three Rivers area, where the boats had more room to operate. But Bradenton and Palmetto, along with the Green Bridge, offer more spectator space.

“We thought, ‘We have a beautiful spot on the Manatee River, so let’s use it,’ ” Poston said. “It’s an asset that’s under used, so we got together with the organizers and his group and it was a knockout.”

Sam Winer, the co-owner and president of the Powerboat Super League Series, said there have been a few kinks along the way.

“Because we are a roadshow, we don’t have a fixed facility, but racing on the Manatee River in February is about as close to perfect as you can get,” he said. “What it means to our staff and our tour is one thing. It gives us a prominent place to open things up with a huge crowd.

“We don’t do anything else for another three or four months after this, so it’s a good way to get everybody broken in. Otherwise, a lot of these drivers probably wouldn’t get their stuff out until May.”

Winer said the Powerboat Super League Series will continue to return to the regatta “as long as the event wants us.”

Both sides of the river will be hopping with activity and the new addition of a Gondola Ferris Wheel officially went into action at noon on Friday and will remain open throughout Saturday’s regatta.

It costs $5 per person and provides 90-foot high views across the Manatee River into Bradenton.

Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant said the growth of the event, as well as continued expansion of activities into Palmetto, has only been a positive experience.

“The whole event has really grown and progressed over the time period and I would say I’m very proud of the progress we’ve made,” Bryant said. “Initially, it was a little slow on the Palmetto side, but we worked with the organizers and the different sponsors and I think Palmetto has a lot to be proud of as well as Bradenton.”

While there is plenty of fun, games, shows, music and food available on both sides of the river, Bryant encourages visitors to visit the city’s authentic and versatile cuisines.

“Hopefully people realize it’s not just the regatta,” Bryant said. “Palmetto is open for business so come on in.”

This story was originally published February 2, 2018 at 2:13 PM with the headline "Ya simply gotta regatta Saturday on the Manatee River."