Email
PrintAnchors aweigh
The 25th annual Bartlett Regatta Launch Party and Race allows patrons to set sail on Grand Lake while supporting members of The Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges.
The Cherokee Queen II.
Ahoy, mates! It’s time to trim your sails. June is Bartlett Regatta month.
If you are an avid boater who practically lives at the lake, then here are two fundraisers you won’t want to miss.
The 25th annual Bartlett Regatta Launch Party and Race, both benefiting The Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges, will be June 2 (Launch Party) and June 5 (Regatta).
The Launch Party will be held at The Center, 815 S. Utica Ave., while Joe Harwood of Arrowhead Yacht Club on Grand Lake o’ the Cherokees hosts the Regatta.
This year’s poster was designed by well-known artist/actor and Tulsan Gailard Sartain, whose son, Ben, is a member of The Center.
Begun in 1986, the Bartlett Regatta is named for the late Pete Bartlett.
According to Judy Kishner, who served as event chair in 1986, 1987 and now in 2010, and Nancy Atwater, past Center executive director, “The Regatta idea was one borrowed from a Houston yacht club and was really born around a campfire at Fort Gibson Lake by a bunch of sailors.”
The Grand Lake sailors shared their idea with Bartlett and Bill Dawson, who each contributed $5,000 as a challenge to kick off the first Regatta. Bartlett died shortly before the first event and The Center board of directors named the Regatta in his honor.
The Launch Party hosts approximately 350 patrons who bid on a variety of items in both silent and live auctions.
In honor of the event’s 25th anniversary, two events highlight the Launch Party — an opportunity to purchase a ticket to watch Regatta activities from the Cherokee Queen II, a three-story paddleboat, and to purchase a raffle ticket for a 2010 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Sports Sedan from Jackie Cooper Imports.
All proceeds from the Launch Party and Regatta benefit The Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges, the only facility of its kind in the region dedicated to providing a wide range of rehabilitative and recreational activities for persons with a wide range of physical challenges.
Sponsorship information about the Launch Party and Regatta is available by calling Marcia Graham, director of development, at 584-8607 or by visiting www.tulsacenter.org.
