Fingerlakes Weekend - Cardboard Boat Regatta

Apparently, Watkins Glen's "thing" is the annual Cardboard Boat Regatta.  Quite a few people in the little town told us about it, but we honesty thought it sounded quite silly.  On Saturday afternoon we tried to go the event, but traffic was horrible, parking was impossible to find and we had just finished a wine tasting and lunch involving a bottle of wine, so it was time for a wine nap.  But after the wine nap we decided to venture into town, and since the event was in it's final half hour some people were leaving and so parking was easy to find.

We had no idea what we were missing.

 That boat out there is made of cardboard

Foster the Boat

This Cardboard Boat Regatta thing was amazing. People make enormous floating vessels out of nothing but cardboard, duct tape, and paint.  These boats hold anywhere from 3 to 8 people, from what we can tell.  Some are pretty simple, just boxes covered in tape, but others are elaborate, like the dragon boat that we saw.  Considering that we arrived at the very end of the event, and considering how impressed we were with the what we saw, I can't even imagine what we missed during the first 1.75 hours.



 Puff the Magic Dragon


The General Sea - One of the more impressive boats we saw


The Titanic

 There were food stands and vendors everywhere, and nearby restaurants were selling beer right out in the streets.  People were really into it, and we agree that it seemed like a great time.  It was scorching hot so it worked out well that we were only there for a short time, but we're now believers - the Watkins Glen Cardboard Boat Regatta is worth checking out.

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