Wednesday, July 1, 1998
MADISON, Ind. -- The muddy, swirling Ohio River will be too high and too full of debris for this weekend's hydroplane race, forcing officials to postpone annual Madison Regatta until Labor Day weekend.
"I know this was a tough decision for the Regatta Committee to make," Mayor Al Huntington said Tuesday after meeting with Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Association commissioner Bill Doner. "We're going to make a positive out of what could have been a negative."
The Madison Regatta Festival, with live music, a parade and fireworks, will continue this weekend. The fireworks will be launched from the shore instead of a floating barge, but officials still were trying to pin down a new location for the other events.
Linda Lytle, director of the Madison Area Convention and Visitors Bureau said the postponement could hamper area business. The Regatta weekend accounts for 20 percent of the year's business in the southeastern Indiana city, she said.
But barring any late-summer flooding, the Labor Day race will begin with qualifying on Friday, Sept. 4, and Saturday, Sept. 5, and racing Sunday, Sept. 6.
