Protection vital for future, locals tell Mabus
August 17, 2010Back-to-school road safety tips for children and parents
August 19, 2010The oil isn’t coming up to the surface anymore – at last.
But the economic casualties are still lining up in droves in its aftermath.
The most recent event to be adversely affected is the 2010 Atchafalaya Power Boat Race Festival, which was scheduled for mid-October in Morgan City.
After reviewing the current economic situation in the Tri-parish area, Morgan City Power Boat Association President Oren Dupre and his board members decided to cancel this year’s scheduled non-title race, so they can pool their resources and be back and better than ever in 2011, when the Power Boat Association does have a title-race scheduled.
“Our biggest problem right now is the way the economy is so far in the dumps, not just here in the South, but also in the Midwest, on the East Coast and really throughout out country,” Dupre said. “We just figured participation may be at an all-time low, because it wasn’t a title-series race.”
The economy’s downturn combined with the oil spill is what Dupre said led to the “perfect storm,” that forced the race to be put to a halt this year.
Even in perfect economic conditions, Dupre said the event would have been a challenge to put on, because of the lack of hotel and motel rooms because of the spill.
“Where would they have stayed when they’d have come down?” he said. “That’s if they’d come at all.”
Despite the race’s cancellation this year, the president said plans are already on the horizon for boats to be gliding through the Atchafalaya in the upcoming months.
The American Power Boat Association has granted the Morgan City Association a title race next year – another factor the president said led to the event’s cancellation.
“We want to give the public something they can show for,” the president said. “I don’t like to see just two or three boats out there. I want to see 10 or 12. I want to have eliminations in certain fields, and that’s what we want to do. We want to give back to the people, and we didn’t feel we could do that this year.”
The 2010 cancellation will not be the first time in recent years that the Power Boat Race Festival is halted due to an economic crisis.
In 2005, the races were also put to a halt following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Dupre said following that year off, interest in the races were at an all-time high – a model he hopes to follow again following the oil spill.
“We did the same thing when Katrina came through, and we came back and we were even stronger at it,” he said. “Our community didn’t have to shovel the bucks again or find means to ante up again. Everybody’s budgets are being cut and it’s just tough right now. … But we’ll be back.”
The event’s cancellation is just another in a laundry list of outdoors events to be placed on the backburner because of the oil spill.
Countless rodeos have been shelved throughout the summer, including the Golden Meadow-Fourchon International Tarpon Rodeo and the Grand Isle International Tarpon Rodeo.
But fans still craving the outdoors can head out to the Atchafalaya River this weekend for the 2010 Deep South Racing Association’s Battle of the Basin Drag Races, which will still go on as scheduled.
“Don’t confuse us with the outboard event,” Dupre said. “Those guys are still going to give it a go. They’re not canceled.”
