Henderson history: Flatboat Days had a good run down the river for 14 years
Henderson’s entry in the first Flatboat Days race wasn’t exactly built for speed.
“That boat must have weighed 8,000 pounds,” 1973 crew member Bill Latta said in a Gleaner article published Aug. 13, 1981. “It was really authentic.”
Probably because the planks were three-inch-thick slabs of oak and poplar taken from the recently demolished Kingdon Hotel. The design of the Redbanks Queen, as the first local entry was called, was modeled on prints from the 1830s.
I suspect most of you already know what a flatboat is, but I should probably elaborate. A flatboat is a flat-bottomed craft usually used for moving large quantities of beer down thirsty gullets … uh, I mean moving heavy cargoes in shallow water. They were used extensively in settling the Ohio River basin, and for getting Kentucky\'s first crops to market in New Orleans.
More about the beer aspect in a minute.
The 1973 racecourse was the Ohio River between Owensboro and Henderson and pitted entries from both cities. The idea was the brainchild of Henderson Chamber of Commerce executive director Robert Reilly in 1972. A group of tourism types from Frankfort were going around the state that year, trying to get local Chambers of Commerce to boost tourism during the Bicentennial by holding festivals and the like. One of them was a little too pushy in asking what Henderson intended to do, and Reilly snapped back:
"If nothing else, I'll put together a raft and float down the Ohio River."
Being a history buff, Reilly realized as soon as the words were out of his mouth, that, hey, that really wasn't a bad idea.
The Great Ohio River Flatboat Race began fairly casual with few rules. The main idea was to drink beer while floating 48 miles down the Ohio River.
And that’s what the Jaycees did – although there were some hijinks along the way; the crew of the Pride of Owensboro tied a concrete block anchor to the Redbanks Queen while the Henderson boys weren’t looking.
The race began at noon Aug. 23, 1973, in Owensboro and ran for four days. The Owensboro crew was using oars all along and they quickly gained a sizable lead. Midway through the last day, however, a fellow in a motorboat pulled alongside the Queen with a set of long oars and oarlocks and helped install them. (In later years boats would have as many as four sets of oars.)
Oars were not original equipment on genuine flatboats. “I don’t care what they say,” Reilly said in the Aug. 24 Gleaner. “The Queen is more rustic and looks more authentic because of the logs we used for the cabin. The only thing is the guys went a little sophisticated with the green shag carpet on the deck.” (By 1980 crews of the more authentic – and heavier – flatboats tended to sit out the actual race and focus on socializing, competing in beachside contests − and drinking beer.)
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The crew roster tended to change every four hours because everyone wanted to get in on the act. Although 17 people were on board the flatboat when it first set off from Owensboro, the usual complement was about five or six.
The first crew, all Jaycees, were Tom A. Simpson, Lambert Farmer, Bill and Tom Latta, and Rick Villines, all of whom spearheaded construction of the boat.
They pulled hard in the last stretch and caught the Owensboro entry near Evansville. A band struck up the “Ballad of Davy Crockett” as the Redbanks Queen pulled into the Second Street boat ramp a football field length ahead of the opposition, according to The Gleaner of Aug. 28.
The Great Ohio River Flatboat Race was to continue through 1986 but that was the last time Henderson came in first. To local chagrin, Owensboro won six times during the race’s 14-year run. Madisonville’s Coalfield Comet won a respectable four times, although its 1978 win was a tie with a boat from Crittenden County.
Reilly made it clear in The Gleaner of Aug. 28, 1973, there would be more flatboat races. “I began with a three-year plan for the race,” he said, ensuring the fun would continue through the nation’s Bicentennial.
About 400 people helped the Redbanks Queen in various ways that first year, he said, noting he was a little disappointed that the turnout at the Henderson riverfront for the end of the race was only about 1,200. He had hoped for 2,000.
“We will probably issue invitations to all cities wishing to take part” in 1974, Reilly said. “I would expect as many as 10 entries.”
There were eight boats the second year and 13 in 1977, according to a history of the celebration that appeared in a special section of The Gleaner Aug. 13, 1981. The year 1980 saw 22 entries from across the Tri-State and in 1981 there was the all-time record of 26 boats. That year also saw a boat come from Nashville, the farthest away of any entry of any year.
The Gleaner of Aug. 14, 1981, carried a Donna Stinnett story that began with new lyrics for John Prine’s song “Paradise.” The ode to beer-drinking was penned by Bill “Squirrel” Bauer, crew member of the Morganfield boat, who had been in every race except the first.
“It’s more or less a reunion every year,” Bauer said. “You read about it being nothing but a big beer-drinking contest, but there’s nothing that does as much for community relations as this event.”
As usual, the shore activities included a beer-chugging contest. Crew members were timed on how fast they collectively could consume a sixpack. In 1986 individual contestants tried to see who could chug 60 ounces of beer the fastest. That’s nearly a half-gallon.
Not everyone was a fan of that sport. Janna Reed, for instance, wrote a letter that was published in The Gleaner of Aug. 3, 1982:
“The original idea of the Flatboat Days was exhilarating. However, I have seen the Flatboat Race turn into nothing but a chance for many participants to see how much beer they can consume before they get so looped they fall off the boat.”
In 1982 Linda Schmitt, a bartender from Newburgh, headed an effort to collect pull tabs – those sharp pieces of aluminum used to pop open beer cans back in the day. Schmitt and her helpers strung them together and spooled the chain across the Ohio River, according to The Gleaner of Aug. 7, 1982.
In 1985 the race was shortened by one day and one mile, according to The Gleaner of July 11.
Henderson’s only participation in the 1986 race was a boat sponsored by the Jaycees, the Redbanks Queen Too.
That race ended at Dogtown Marina, which was a last-minute change made during a meeting of flatboat captains, according to The Gleaner of Aug. 12, which referred to “the now defunct Flatboat Days” celebration.
“We’ve definitely lost a lot of appeal to the public, and without the public, there is no event,” said Al Brandt of Evansville, the race vice chairman.
The Jaycees tried to carry on with a 1986 event called Historical Days, but it lasted only through 1988.
100 YEARS AGO
Rowland Robards of Uniontown hooked an alligator gar on a trot line and brought it to The Gleaner office for verification, according to The Gleaner of Aug. 24, 1923.
That “monster fish” weighed 176 pounds and measured seven feet and four inches. Pete Wingert took possession of the fish, which he stuffed and mounted, and it was displayed in the window of Mann Bros. department store.
The same story said old-time fisherman Jack Shingler once caught a 150-pound catfish. “He lived in an old frame house on the riverbank at 12th Street, where he died Jan. 13, 1861, almost neglected and forgotten.”
75 YEARS AGO
Patrolman Doris Gibson told the Henderson Ministerial Association that Henderson police didn’t make gambling arrests because, “frankly, we’re afraid” of repercussions, according to The Gleaner of Aug. 25, 1948.
“We never get any orders,” said officer Cecil Mays. “We just go down (to the police station), get in a car and ride around. If we see a drunk, we pick him up.”
The Gleaner of Aug. 27 quoted Police Chief Leon Beckham disputing Gibson’s statement. “Slot machines are out and out to stay,” he said. “If slot machines are set up, they will be confiscated.”
The end of wide-open commercialized gambling didn’t come until 1951, however.
25 YEARS AGO
Furniture maker Kimball International bought 11,700 acres of timberland in Union and Crittenden counties from Alcoa, according to The Gleaner of Aug. 25, 1998.
“The 18.3-square-mile site, which is the largest privately owned parcel in Kentucky, nearly doubles the timberland holdings of Kimball.”
Alcoa had owned the property for five decades. Kimball, which was acquired by HNI Corp. in March, is based in Jasper, Indiana.
Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com, on Twitter at @BoyettFrank, and on Threads at @frankalanks.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Henderson history: Flatboat Days had a good run down the river for 14 years
