During the summer of 1969, Rochester marked the 100th anniversary of the incorpora-tion of the town with a gala centennial celebration. There were events and activities for young and old and the town took on a bit of a carnival atmosphere, with women in hoop skirts and men in whiskers on the streets. One of the first big events of the season was a regatta on Paint Creek called the Floatable Boatable. Contestants manned their homemade boats and rafts and floated them into Avon Park, where a large crowd lined the banks of the river to cheer them on. Everyone had such a good time that the Floatable Boatable was turned into an annual Memorial Day weekend event for the next 16 years. Unfortunately, it had to be discontinued in 1985 when liability insurance for the race became prohibitively expensive.
Photo: My Dad took this photo of the 1969 Floatable Boatable from the banks of Paint Creek in Avon Park.
I remember!
ReplyDeleteIt went on till the late 1970's for certain, I'm not sure if it went into the 1980's or not, because I moved away.
ReplyDelete1985
DeleteMy mom says she remembers going with her family around 72' to 74'. She said it was cool
ReplyDeleteI remember one floatable boatable made entirely of empty beer cans! What a great part of Rochester summer history. So much fun!!!
ReplyDeleteWow, it's hard to believe it only ran for 16 years. I remember it from as long back as I can remember until I was a young adult. It seems like it was always part of Rochester!
ReplyDeleteBring it back!
ReplyDeleteI participated in that first one....
ReplyDelete