Occasional drizzle fails to dampen spirits as Regatta opens

• Flag raising

Jerry and Terry Perkins, Worthington, raise the U.S. flag during opening ceremonies. The couple, once Peace Corps volunteers in Chile, acknowledged the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps.
• Fixer upper

Ray Muller, Thunder Bay, Ontario, also known as T. Bay Ray, repairs one of his sails Friday afternoon in one of the tents along Sailboard Beach on Lake Okabena in Worthington.
• Hair it is

Katie Hyvari, 8, of Worthington, has her hair styled by SW MN Dance Team director Karrie Scholtes as part of a fundraiser to send the team to dance at the Outback Bowl game in Florida.
• Sheltered Reality

Audience members join the Sheltered Reality drum group as they perform Friday night.

Talk about it

WORTHINGTON — Festival-goers looked to the skies on the first day of the Windsurfing Regatta and Unvarnished Music Festival Friday, and though damp and overcast, the occasional sputter of drizzle failed to prevent the crowds from turning up at Sailboard Beach.

Still, the weather and expectations of its improvement dominated the conversation down by the shoreline.

“I hope it’ll be busy, if it doesn’t rain,” said Tige Sluka of New London, who works in the Loaded Grilled Potato food stand. “After our lovely winter, I’m sure people were eager to get out and do something.”

Despite the overcast skies, the usual Friday Regatta lunch rush still occurred, with people from all over town dropping by for dinner.

The Loaded Grilled Potato food stand is new to the Regatta this year, and its signature dish is cut up, fried red potatoes smothered in shaved beef, onions, peppers, cheese and sour cream. Sluka and his coworkers also sling other grilled fare, including Philly cheese steaks, fajitas, brats, nachos, pretzels, cookies and Philly burgers.

“It’s been all right, for the weather. We had a little bit of a dinner rush,” said Pam Immens of Rushmore, who served pork chops on a stick and pork riblets on behalf of the JBS Relay for Life team. “It’s going to be super tomorrow. The weather’s going to be nice, and we’re going to be busy.”

Hopes for an improved weather outlook for today were high, and justifiably so.

According to the National Weather Service, patchy fog is expected today before 9 a.m., with the day beginning mostly cloudy and becoming sunny. The high should be around 70 degrees, and the low will be around 55 on Saturday night.

“It’s the first time I’ve come to this (Regatta),” said Tony Kardol of Hood River, Ore. “I’ve been traveling around the country and I heard about this, so I adjusted my trip to be sure I’d be here for this race.”

Kardol, who has been windsurfing for 30 years, distributes windsurfing and stand-up paddleboard equipment. Stand-up paddleboarding is one of the fastest-growing water sports, and some of the boards can be used to windsurf as well as paddle.

“(The Regatta) is such a unique event, having the … live music, and people come from all around, including the windsurfers — they don’t come for just the race,” Kardol said.

For other windsurfing events, participants wait for the forecast and sometimes don’t bother to show up if the weather doesn’t cooperate. They show up for the Regatta either way, Kardol said.

“At least there’s people this year,” said Peggy Rachuy of Fulda, who was offering acrylic paintings at her artist booth. “Last year, we had rain on Friday and this year, the weather’s cooperating. I’m waiting for tomorrow. I hope tomorrow’s a wonderful turnout.”

Kharmen Saysirisanh, 10, Tien Truong, 11, and Kate Reeves, 10, all of Worthington, got their hair done by Karrie Scholtes of Wilmont, who was creating “crazy hair” arrangements with flowers, glitter and glowsticks to raise money for the Southwest Minnesota Dance Team’s trip to the Outback Bowl.

As of Friday evening, rumors were flying about possible unscheduled Regatta musical guest stars.

“Expect the unexpected,” said Bill Keitel, vice president of U.S. Windsurfing and music committee member.

Though the overcast skies caused some apprehension, the 12 years of previous experience of the Regatta facilitators meant efforts to organize the music mostly fell into place, Keitel said.

“Part of our mission and educational process is to expose people to music that is not just Top 40,” he added, as the Sheltered Reality percussion ensemble began to play.

“There’s going to be no rain tomorrow,” he added.

The crowd may have begun small on Friday evening, but was already growing by the time Sheltered Reality finished playing, with a positive weather outlook for today.

“It’s a good time,” said John Standafer, who serves on the Regatta Board and manned the beer tent Friday evening.

Today’s schedule includes a workshop with Sheltered Reality from 10 to 11:30 a.m., the art tent for kids from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., arts on the shore from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., a public art presentation by Nick and Nicole Fischer at 11 a.m., the AOK Club and Worthington Public Arts Commission at 11:30 a.m., and the dedication of murals at 11:45 a.m.

Sheltered Reality will perform from noon to 12:45 p.m., followed by the Roe Family Singers from 1 to 2:30 p.m. and Heatherlyn from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The Daily Globe chair auction will be from 5 to 5:45 p.m. Atomic Flea will play from 6 to 7:30 p.m., followed by Ride from 8 to 10 p.m. The Shoreline Jam will be from 10:30 p.m. to midnight.

Tags: regatta, news, worthington