VERMILION — Even though he lives in boating-happy Vermilion, Jeremy Kennison has never had a boat of his own.
From left, Michelle Stringer, Stephanie Matus and Molly Chandler set up the Quaker Steak Crazy Craft with a Thanksgiving theme Thursday on the Vermilion River. (CT photo by Steve Manheim.)
But that isn’t stopping him and friends and co-workers at Quaker Steak & Lube from getting in this year’s Crazy Craft Regatta with a wacky watercraft.
“This is the first year we’re trying it,” Kennison, a manager at the Liberty Avenue restaurant, said. “We borrowed a boat from a marina that was used a couple years ago. We’re going to decorate it for this year’s Thanksgiving in June theme.”
The regatta, which is part parade, part race, is one of Saturday’s big draws at the town’s Festival of the Fish, which is celebrating its 45th year this weekend.
“We’ll have an Indian and a pilgrim having a pillow fight,” Kennison said.
Actually, the small boat, measuring 6 feet in length by about 4 feet wide, won’t accommodate the display, and the costumed Pilgrim and Indian will have to duke it out from two air mattresses being pulled behind the boat.
“We’ll have four guys on the boat paddling it, so there won’t be any room,” Kennison said.
No motors are allowed — all of the watercraft have to be propelled by manpower alone.
Last year’s regatta featured about 15 boats in the adult division and about as many in the children’s division, Kennison said. All vessels in the event leave from near the city’s public boat docks on West River Road at 1 p.m., make their way down the Vermilion River past Quaker Steak & Lube, and continue beneath the Liberty Avenue bridge to the finish line — a second bridge south of the first, which sports a set of railroad tracks.
The contest is mostly for bragging rights, but everyone usually has a good time, Kennison said.
Begun in 1966, the three-day fish festival is nowhere near as crazy or crowded as the town’s more famous Woollybear Festival, which packs the streets in and near the city center with a crowd that typically exceeds 100,000, according to Sandy Grisel, administrative assistant for the Vermilion Chamber of Commerce.
But it does draw good crowds to enjoy all kinds of festival food, a pet parade hosted by veteran Cleveland weatherman Dick Goddard and a Queens Pageant that attracts about 20 queens of other Ohio festivals for the fish festival’s own judging at 6:30 p.m. tonight.
“They come from all over the state,” Grisel said. “This festival is really known for that.”
Other annual highlights include a water fight pitting members of the Vermilion Fire Department against counterparts from Wakeman, Florence Township and other area communities.
The pet parade is another favorite, according to Grisel. “We had over 60 entries last year, including snakes, chickens, goats, miniature horses” and, of course, dogs.
Nighttime activities include the Lighted Boat Parade along the river, which gets under way at dusk Saturday.
The annual Father’s Day parade at 12:30 p.m. Sunday is another fixture. Mayor Eileen Bulan and Police Chief Chris Hartung will serve as grand marshals.
The festival’s food vendors, entertainment and other activities begin at noon in Victory Park, and along a portion of state Route 60 (Main Street) between U.S. Route 6 (Liberty Avenue) and Ohio Street.
For more information, visit www.VermilionOhioNews.com or call the Vermilion Chamber of Commerce at (440) 967-4477.
Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.
