'Raft Up' organizers visit Pulaski Fiscal Court

Local News

July 28, 2010

By HEATHER TOMLINSON, CJ Staff Writer Commonwealth Journal The Commonwealth Journal Wed Jul 28, 2010, 07:00 AM EDT

Somerset —

Local and regional boaters will soon have a chance to break a world record. What’s been deemed as the “Lake Cumberland Raft Up 2010,” is slated for Saturday, August 14, and the event’s organizers attended this week’s Pulaski County Fiscal Court meeting seeking support for the undertaking. “Were trying to get as many people in the area as possible, for them to open up their wallets and spend some money down here in the lake area,” said Craig Stratton, coordinator of the event, to the fiscal court on Tuesday. The Raft Up is sponsored by the Lake Cumberland Association, a non-profit organization made up of the nine marinas located on and around Lake Cumberland. “What the marina association wanted to do was create practically an additional holiday weekend on the lake,” Stratton said about the event’s date. Organizers are hoping the boaters who make the lake a frequent weekend destination will be moved to join in what will be an attempt to beat the current world record for the number of boats rafted up, or tied together, at one time. That record stands from 2004, when 1,453 boats were tied together at Lake Norman, North Carolina. The Raft Up 2010 organizers are hoping to see as many as 1,500 to 2,000 boats on August 14. That number is attainable, according to Stratton, who said as many as 5,000 boat slips are located on Lake Cumberland. The Raft Up will be centered approximately one mile west of Conley Bottom Marina near a shallow beach area on the lake’s shore. “Folks will be coming in ... from Ohio and Indiana and Louisville and Lexington to participate in this event and they’ll be going through the boat ramps and the marinas and all those different places in order to get here,” Stratton said. The Raft Up is the first such event to be held on Lake Cumberland — and Stratton said he and other organizers are hoping the level of participation among boaters will draw a massive number to the lake to take part in the world record attempt. “ ... This is a participation event,” Stratton said. “In other words, everybody can actually be involved in this instead of just being a spectator.” Judges from the Guinness Book of World Records will be on hand to judge the Raft Up and determine whether a record has been broken, and a band will perform during the event, which is scheduled from 12 p.m. until 5 .m. that day. Stratton said the event is “quite an undertaking,” and asked that the county donate funds toward the Raft Up to show its support. He told the court that Wayne County Fiscal Court donated $5,000, and he said Russell County tourism board gave $2,500. First District Magistrate Kenny Isaacs questioned whether the Somerset-Pulaski Convention and Visitors Bureau had heard from Stratton about the event, to which executive director Carolyn Mounce, who was in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting, said yes. She said the board has yet to offer funding toward the event, stating that they are awaiting an updated budget from the Raft up coordinators. Isaacs said he would rather see the Somerset-Pulaski CVB handle the county’s contributions to the Raft Up. Fourth District Magistrate Glenn Maxey disagreed, saying he’d “like to see the county step up” and contribute. He noted that the Raft Up had been brought up to him before, and he said such an event could only be good for Somerset’s economy. Isaacs agreed with that sentiment. Maxey made a motion to contribute $2,500 to the Raft Up, and Fifth District Magistrate Mike Strunk seconded that motion. The Lake Cumberland Raft Up 2010 is open for boat registration for the event, which costs $20 per vessel. Stratton noted that each boat can have as many people as legally possible without any extra charges.

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