Henley Regatta Will Once Again Open With Fireworks; Celebrating 127th Anniversary this Year
Please join us on Monday August 3rd, as we begin the Opening Ceremonies for this year's 127th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. The Henley Committee plans to continue our new tradition of the spectacular fireworks display during our opening cerimonies. More details will follow as we get closer to August.
The following is St. Catharines Standard article by Bernie Puchalski - St. Catharines Standard
Sports - Wednesday, July 25, 2007 @ 1:00.
The 125th version of the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta started with a bang.
To celebrate the milestone anniversary, the Monday, Aug. 6 opening ceremonies will be moved to the grandstand and feature fireworks, wine tasting, cultural food and entertainment, and the unveiling of Canada's uniforms for this year's world rowing championships.
"The highlight of the evening will be the fireworks. As we've seen in the past with Port Dalhousie, fireworks draw a nice crowd down and we're hoping people will come down to the opening ceremonies as well," Henley commissioner Bill Schenck said.
The grandstand will also be the location of the regatta's long quest to make the event more fan friendly.
Thanks to $74,000 in Celebrate Ontario funding - the regatta's application was one of 74 of 350-plus to receive funding - a rented Jumbotron will be installed at the grandstand to show the races coming up the courses.
"Normally we find, unless you're a diehard rowing fan, you sit in the grandstand for six minutes waiting for the next race to come down. Now they will be able to see the start and capture elements of the race on the way down," regatta marketing consultant Dianne Wright said.
The action will be caught by five fixed cameras on the course. They will show the races at the grandstand, on live to web broadcasts of the starts and finishes, plus a daily highlight package.
The Celebrate Ontario funding was used to purchase the cameras and base station while a switcher - a device that processes footage from the cameras into a seamless race sequence - will be rented along with the Jumbotron.
Omni Media has been hired by the regatta to operate the switcher and produce the final on-screen product.
"There's a lot of things we're looking at for this regatta that we haven't tried before. Rather than go out and do large expenditures, we want to do small steps and make sure everything works properly, and that the equipment we do get is what we need," Schenck said.
If the regatta decides to purchase a switcher and Jumbotron - a $125,000 to $175,000 screen is needed because of the added resolution required for day-time viewing - it will look towards sponsorships or a fundraising campaign.
"We were really fortunate to get the Celebrate Ontario funding. It enabled us to do a bunch of things we've been talking about for a number of years," Schenck said.
The big screen viewing at the grandstand will only be a part of the regatta's new look.
On Henley Island during finals weekend, the regatta will be hosting the Henley Folk Arts Festival featuring food, crafts, entertainment and free parking. The festival will run Saturday, Aug. 11 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
"That's a big step in drawing in the community to be a big part of this event," Schenck said.
Early indications are that the regatta will be a large one and the athletes will be able to enjoy a number of changes. These changes are the result of suggestions made at Thursday night gripe sessions at previous Henleys.
The first change is the provision of free drinking water to all the athletes. The City of St. Catharines is giving each athlete a water bottle and Aquatrue will be providing filling stations on the island and at the grandstand for athletes and volunteers.
The second change is the addition of two 40x80 tents to provide shade for the athletes. Underneath the tents will be chairs and tables and the wildly popular internet cafe.
The tents will be located in the vendors' area of the island and the vendors will be found around the perimeter of the tents. To make room, the boat vendors will be located in the trailer compound.
The third significant change is meant to address the complaints about the lack of training time on the water before dark and in the morning.
To remedy this, the back side of the island will have a launch area for singles and doubles from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bell Canada volunteers will co-ordinate the training on the 1,400-metre course.
"It's enough of a distance to take a boat out and try it or use for a boat vendor demonstration," Schenck said.
One final change to the regatta is that the adaptive rowing events, for athletes with physical disabilities, will become full-fledged events in the regatta and eligible for Henley gold.
