By Reid Forgrave
The Cincinnati Enquirer

AURORA - This quiet Indiana river town will get a little bit louder this weekend.

More than 10,000 spectators from around the Tristate and beyond will cram the shores of the Ohio River on Saturday and Sunday for "A Roar of Thunder" Aurora Regatta, one of the largest events of the year in Dearborn County.

IF YOU GO

What: "A Roar of Thunder" Aurora Regatta When: Saturday and Sunday Where: Lesko Park along the riverfront just west of downtown Aurora, between Ind. 56 and the Ohio River Don't miss: F3 qualifying races, both days at 1 p.m.; F2 qualifying races, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.; and the finals, starting Sunday at 3:30 p.m. In the air: Argosy Casino Air Show by Robinson Aerobatics, 2 p.m. Sunday For teens: Teen Fest free concert, starting at 6 p.m. Saturday More info: Dearborn County Convention, Tourism & Visitor Bureau, (800) 322-8198 On the Web: www.visitsoutheastindiana.com or www.aprsuperleague.com

Two classes of more than 30 tunnel boats - F3 boats that race between 85 and 90 mph, and F2 boats that race between 115 and 120 mph - will skim down a one-mile course in one of five stops during the APR Powerboat Superleague's 2003 national tunnel boat tour.

"For us, it's just huge," said Debbie Smith, director of the Dearborn County Convention, Visitor & Tourism Bureau. "It brings tons of people from all over the region - and further out than that even. There are lots of people who follow these races around the country."

Circuit officials have rated the Aurora racing course as their top race site two years in a row, organizers said.

The fifth year of the regatta will be accompanied by the inaugural River Run, a seven-mile float trip for canoeists and kayakers down the Ohio River from Aurora to Rising Sun. Paddlers will start their float trip at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Aurora Landing after registering in the morning.

All weekend, the Aurora riverfront will be full of food and festivities.

Saturday evening at the Lion's Club in downtown Aurora, spectators will get to meet boat racers. At Lesko Park, there will be a concert catering to teens at the same time as the driver meet-and-greet.

Sunday at 2 p.m., Robinson Aerobatics will put on a 30-minute air show featuring a biplane.

And each day during the regatta, stunt master Jim Whalen of the Dayton area will put on a free-style jet-ski show, one of three of his yearly performances where he does stunts such as barrel rolls; flipping his watercraft underwater, then popping back up, and spraying the crowd.

E-mail rforgrave@enquirer.com