Bradenton Area River Regatta was ‘big hit’ for fans of boats, music, fireworks

Richard Smith, an Atlanta resident who lives on his 35-foot cabin cruiser called the Dandy J one week every month at the Twin Dolphin Marina, attended Saturday’s Bradenton Area River Regatta specifically because he is a Formula 2 racing boat fan.

“I’m a motorhead, so I really enjoy the hydroplane races,” Smith said Sunday as he walked his golden retreiver, Samantha, not far from the Green Bridge under which Formula 2 racing was part of a packed lineup of regatta events that offered something for everyone, including music, fireworks, a U.S. Coast Guard demonstration and rides. “After the first races, I walked over to the pits and talked to some of the drivers, mechanics and learned about their engines.”

“Some of them are called ‘pickleforks,’ Smith added of the 10 Formula 2 boats that competed. “That’s the type of boat they are. They have big Mercury racing engines on them. All the engines put out the same horsepower, so who wins the race is up to the driver because the boats are all basically equal.”

The sight of these boats all competing was thrilling to Smith, who raced boats when he was growing up in New Jersey.

“The initial start was spectacular because all 10 boats were backed into a dock and then had a countdown like, ‘Start you engines,’ and then, ‘Go!’ and all 10 boats accelerated at once, kicking up spray, going 80 to 90 miles per hour in the first couple of hundred feet and it was a sight.”

Also strolling on Sunday near where the event was held were Sherri Gallaway, who grew up in Bradenton and now has a sailboat docked downtown, and her brother, Mike Stansbury.

“I had never seen those kinds of boats on this river,” Gallaway said of the regatta, which she watched from the bridge. “It was fun to see people out and being festive and music going everywhere. There was something for everybody.”

Regatta ‘a big hit,’ says Bradenton mayor

Although final statistics on the crowd that visited Bradenton and Palmetto were still being tabulated Sunday, Bradenton Mayor Wayne Poston estimated that the fourth annual event would compete for the most attended ever, which would be roughly 100,000.

“It was as big as we ever have been, and you could see that looking at the crowd,” Poston said of Saturday’s event, which closed down the Green Bridge, allowing tens of thousands of water sports fans to witness Formula Powerboat Super League Formula 2 boat racing in the Manatee River.

But it wasn’t just power boat racing. There was a 5K fun run sponsored by Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School, a Little Angler’s Fishing Tourney, a Battle of the Bands on the Green Bridge, a Ferris wheel, a U.S. Coast Guard demonstration, fireworks and more.

“I couldn’t be more pleased,” the mayor added. “I thought it was a big hit. The weather was good. It was a little overcast but that was good because it didn’t get too hot, although my face still got sun-burned. The crowd was very big. Palmetto had a boat-load of people on its side of the river, too. Overall it was pretty good.”

A regatta spectator tripped and hit his head, Poston said. That injury was the only serious blemish to the day the mayor could recall.

Police chief pleased

Chief Melanie Bevan of the Bradenton Police Department on Sunday said her officers made no arrests and there were four medical incidents, all minor.

“It was a phenomenal event,” Bevan said. “Very rarely does everything come together but in this case, the weather was good, we had a great crowd, no issues with anything.”

Bevan credits planning in the months and weeks leading up to the event and tweaks made year to year for the success of the event. Bevan’s department meets frequently with 20 to 25 regatta partners, she said.

Past regatta event experience has led to the current street closure map as well as parking and crowd flow strategies, she said.

“We had a little problem with the Battle of the Bands on the bridge because the area where it was held got compressed,” Bevan said. “We might make an adjustment next year to give them more room. But that’s a minor thing. Every year we examine the opportunities to improve.”

Bevan whipped around the event site in a department golf cart and found herself giving some weary attendees a ride back to their vehicles after they had walked on the Bradenton Riverwalk farther than they realized. That gave her a chance to get their thoughts on the event. She was told that parking was not the issue some feared it would be.

“Some people told me they were surprised there were no vendors charging money to park,” Bevan said. “Most of the parking was free Saturday. We feel that is a ‘must have.’ We want them to come to our downtown. We aren’t going to charge them to park.”

A crowd estimate is difficult with the regatta because people tend to come to the event in shifts, depending on their interests, Bevan said.

“A lot of people packed up and left after the boat races,” Bevan said. “But then supporters of Battle of the Bands came to replace them. And then there was a separate fireworks crowd and a group that came for the Coast Guard demonstration. But we can say we were crowded through the whole day up through the evening.”

When the sun rose Sunday, the event area was clear of litter.

“If you paid attention to it, you would have seen Jim McLellan’s people in Public Works and Utilities were working throughout the event making sure it was clean,” Bevan said. “They kept up with it, not just after it was all over.”

This story was originally published February 4, 2018 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Bradenton Area River Regatta was ‘big hit’ for fans of boats, music, fireworks."