Nov 17, 2009 6:34 pm US/Eastern
Regatta Leaving Philly After Over 50 Years
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
An annual sculling event held in Philadelphia for more than 50 years has found a new home.
Every year, thousands of people descend on the banks of the Schuylkill River for the Dad Vail Regatta – the nation's largest college rowing event. More than 3,000 rowers from 120 schools in North America participate in the competition that has been held in the city since 1953.
But in 2010, the race is moving to Rumson, New Jersey. Race organizers say costs in Philadelphia have doubled and donations have dropped nearly 60 percent. Rumson city officials have promised to chip in $250,000 toward the cost of the event.
Mayor Nutter tells Eyewitness News that Dad Vail officials never gave Philadelphia a legitimate chance to keep the event here.
"There has to be some honor, some integrity in the process," Mayor Nutter said. "It just seems to me with a 50 year relationship, it has to be more than going and grabbing some cash from another city in this environment."
Race organizers met with city officials twice since Friday, but Nutter says those meetings were "bogus." Speaking at a morning event, the mayor says Dad Vail officials had already agreed to take money from Rumson in exchange for moving the event there in 2010.
Jack Galloway, Dad Vail organizing chair, says regatta officials asked the city for a meeting weeks ago, in mid-October. By the time they sat down last week, it was too late.
"The Dad Vail Regatta, like all non-profits, must pay its debt, and our reserve fund is used up," he said.
The money fronted by Rumson will go to replenish the reserve and keep registration fees from skyrocketing, he says.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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