No,I wasn't there for the MQ's startup. That was back
in the days when I was gainfully employed and had to be
at work. I doubt if there will be much of a crowd on
Saturday because there have been so many races there,
and the community isn't river-conscious. Plus, its
difficult to get to the river to view. On a Saturday,
the parking lots cost $16 for 4 hours or more, so that
never helps the locals. I presume the race will end at
Canal Street, which means people can see it in front of
the aquarium and all down Woldenberg Riverfront Park to
the Natchez dock. But unless they hype it with a food
festival or music in the park, I don't see many showing
up. Hope I'm wrong though. As an aside, the start of
the Great Steamboat Race is always a farce, so nobody
pays any attention to that. Some years they start from
Robin Street, some they drop down to Canal, and then a
little toy cannon pops off, and they're off! And often
right backto the dock at Robin St. because they don't
have all the passengers yet. But they always start at 6
PM to get on the local news live. But even they ignore
it now as they know its totally staged. Hopefully this
year things can be better organized and the PR will
improve. One of the biggest mistakes the bluewater
people made was to dump VP Patty Young, who was a Betty
Blake type of dynamo. But she knew too much about the
boats and the river, so she was dumped. Lucette Brems
was her assistant and took over what was left of the PR
dept, which was very little. She too left when they
sailed off to Florida(sort of), but luckily for the
company,is now back in the fold. Please notice that
nowhere did I mention that anyone down at the
riverfront for the race will get a good view of the
Natchez, and then the later-arriving AQ - until
now!!!!! ........
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