Silly Boat Regatta brings the fun and crowd to Nanaimo

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The winning team from the Loyal Nanaimo Bathtub Society. (Image Credit: Silly Boat Regatta on Facebook)

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Out of the 30 teams competing, it was a local, legacy team which came out on top.

The Loyal Nanaimo Bathtub Society, with their boat ‘Monster from Snake Island,’ rang the finish line bell the fastest with a time of 2:15:00, shaving 24 seconds off their time from their winning heat earlier in the afternoon.

While the final numbers are still being totaled, around $90,000 was already raised for the NCDC by the time the final heats had finished in the early afternoon.

A group of “superheroes” from Victoria were on hand, taking pictures and running a dunk tank, where spectators had a chance to dunk a trash-talking villain. (Image Credit: Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Howland said the Park was packed with people taking in games and watching the boats being built, but one of the highlights was when Canadian children’s entertainer Fred Penner took the stage.

“The crowd went crazy for Fred. We’ve got people that have come up to Fred and said, “You had my kids when they were five and six”, and now they’re adults hugging him. So there’s a lot of history here of people coming to visit with him, and so we were really lucky to have him here too.”

Fred Penner took the stage at the Lions Pavilion around 11:30 a.m. (Image Credit: Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

This year’s Silly Boat Regatta held extra meaning following the recent death of Michelle Kocourek, former CDC resource development officer, who served as a longstanding, tireless advocate for the non-profit organization.

Howland said it was very touching to honour the “former silly boat queen” who worked so hard for 20 years on Silly Boats.

“It’s great to see that we’ve been able to pull this together in her honour.”

A packed crowd filled Maffeo Sutton Park for most of Sunday, with the Silly Boat races starting at 1 p.m. (Image Credit: Jake Fernandes)

The Silly Boat entry from the Nanaimo Special Olympics BC team, featuring Deadpool. (Image Credit: Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Penner performed a number of his classic hits, as well as leading the crowd in a rendition of Happy Birthday to honour 40 years of the Silly Boat Regatta. (Image Credit: Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

(Image Credit: Jake Fernandes)

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