After a 16-year absence, the Sternwheel Regatta could be back in Charleston in 2022.
At a news conference Friday morning at Haddad Riverfront Park to announce the return of West Virginia American Water and the United Way of Central West Virginia’s Great Rubber Duck Race, Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin indicated that the regatta might be back on the Kanawha River as early as next year.
“Does anybody want regatta back?” she called out from the podium, before answering yes.
Goodwin said plans had been underway last year to revive the oft-remembered Labor Day festival in 2021.
Discussions were being held with sternwheeler owners and food vendors, and the city had reached out to big-name musical acts for regatta weekend concerts. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of nearly all concerts, fairs and festivals nationwide for most of 2020 and much of the first half of 2021.
Get the rest of the article from the Charleston Gazette-Mail.