This has to be one of the funnest events to watch during the entire festival. The shoreline was packed with people all on hand to cheer on their favorite teams.

Here’s how it went down. The teams were called out and their boats carried down to the courtesy boat dock. Once all boats were in place they were gingerly placed into the water and team members carefully boarded their vessels. Once all three boats were situated at the starting line the horn sounded and the teams feverishly paddled their boats down river towards the McGregor park Boat ramp. The first boat to reach an orange flag placed on the shoreline near the boat ramp was the winner of that heat.

The boats  are raced in individual heats of three boats per run. The following Prizes are awarded

• The Ship Shape Award for the most creative boat design
• The “Cardboard Queen” Award which goes to the prettiest boat in the Regatta
• The Team unity Award for most spirited and most organized team (Looks don’t matter here!)
• The Team Attire Award for the team with the most creative costumes
• The Titanic Award which is awarded on the basis of the most spectacular sinking of the day.

This was in addition to the first, second, and third place awards for each heat. Regatta results are at the bottom of the article below the photo gallery.

The City Council Boat

A can of Whoop Ass

The City council boat featured a catamaran hull, and they brought along a secret weapon a case of whoop ass. Council Members David Allen (Ward 8), Joel Wallace (Ward 9), Bill Summers (Ward 10), and James Lewis (Ward 3) crewed the boat, seeing them off were Councilmembers Geno Grubbs (Ward 7), Candy Johnson (Ward 5), and Deanna McLaughlin (Ward 2).

For the last few years the Parks and Rec Department and the City Council have been swapping out the cardboard City of Clarksville Regatta Trophy. This trophy is exclusively for City Department participants as they are ineligible for the other awards offered in the Regatta. This year, Parks and Rec Department took the Titanic award because as Kevin said during the awards, “We get the award because we had the only boat that sank, and the plaque is dated so he had to get rid of it.” Better luck next year!

Missy Graham looks on as the Parks and Rec crew is fished out of the water

The Clarksville PD boat

The Police Department’s boat was crafted into the form of a giant beaver and was named Leave it to Beaver. The crew members including Chief of Police Al Ansley all wore beaver 100.3FM t-shirts.

Other organizations that raced included Clarksville High School, The Riverview Inn, Clarksville Highs Junior Civitan Club, The Kennedy law firm and their boat the Legal Eagle, the Hilldale Kiwanis Club, the Clarksville Fire Department Explorer Troop, the energetic Paco’s Taco, The Actus team represented Fort Campbell which took home several awards. There were too many teams to recognize them all here but they all did a great job on their boats, showed great sportsmanship during the races, and hopefully everyone had a really great time!

The Kennedy Law firm boat Legal Eagle

Following the Regatta the rest of the days’ entertainment beckoned.

The inflatables

As you walked from the Regatta towards the performance stages you passed through the kids area with its multitude of inflatables. Early in the day there was almost no lines, but by evening time you had to spend a bit of time waiting in line at each of them. There were tables and bleachers provided to allow the worn out parents to relax, as their children enjoyed the activities.

Around inflatables’ area you found other things for the kids to enjoy. A booth offering caricatures, another Airbrush tattoos. Booths offered many free games some with prizes for the kids. Then of course always a crowd favorite is the petting zoo, and pony rides.

Katherine Kolodzie and the Roxy Theatre booth

The Roxy Regional Theatre was on hand in the children’s area and ably represented by its new Director of Public Relations & Development Katherine Kolodzie, who told Parents about the Theatre, the shows suitable for young people, and their “School of the Arts”, and in the process she raised awareness about this fount of culture in our community. Some of the great Children’s shows that the Roxy has put on include “A year with Frog and Toad”, “Seussical the Musical”, “Cats”, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”, and they will soon be showing the hilarious “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” starting on September 18th. The show features six young people competing in a spelling bee, with parents who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, in the process the children learn that winning isn’t everything, and that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser.

Now we move on to the River of Culture!

Clarksville Family Magazine sat on the border of Toddler town and the River of Culture, and this was quite fitting. They introduced and sponsor the Toddler Town area which provides age appropriate activities for the younger children. Clarksville Family Magazine has left their mark on the yearly Riverfest Festival, and that deserves special recognition! Their high quality magazine is aimed at parents and families, and the businesses which want to reach them. Clarksville Family Magazine is published by Carla & and Cliff Lavergne. They started publication in April of 2007, and currently publish and distribute 10,000 issues a month, which are available free of charge at various locations around Clarksville. If you are interested in advertising with them you can contact Rachel Phillips at (931) 216-5102.

Riverfest is fast becoming the place to highlight the diverse mix of cultures that make up our community, and to allow the attendees to discover first hand the benefits that our city gains from them. This amazing diversity brings new ideas, new talents, new visions, and perhaps best of all new foods to try into our city. Toreros Fine Mexican Foods gave Riverfest visitors free samples of Churros, a tasty pastry item that originated in Spain. This dish is popular in Mexico, and is becoming popular in the United States. The pastry is fried into long ribbons and frequently topped with a light dusting of sugar and cinnamon.

The colorful Ballet Folklorico Viva Panama dancers

Clarksville Online has frequently identified the colorful Ballet Folklorico Viva Panama dancers as area favorites, and they didn’t disappoint at Riverfest. Joining them in that very selective favorites list are the Jezzebellies with their lithe and exotic dances, and the Hui Hawaii O Tenesi Hawaiian Civic Club with their graceful hulas.

Chris Monhollen

After a bit of midday break, We returned to the Festival in time to catch the Beaver’s Country Idol competition. Featuring 17 very talented local singers, the competition had the crowd singing along to the tunes, dancing in the aisles, and all in all having a great time. Chris Monhollen ended up taking home the $1000 dollar prize for the 2009 Beaver Country Idol contest.

The Beaver broadcasts with 100,000 watts at 100.3 on the FM dial, and features some of the best in country music. They are part of the 5 Star Radio Group which also operates Q108 107.9FM, The Eagle 94.3FM, Everything that Rocks Z97.5 FM, & The Fan 540 AM.

After the Beaver Country Idol Contest was over, it seemed as if time began moving twice as fast.

Clarksville Online was fortunate to attend a meet and greet for the headlining performers for the evening, The Trailer Choir , and Jack Ingram. Both of whom graciously allowed us to take the photos used in this story.

The Trailer Choir

Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper with Country Singer Jack Ingram

Following that we made our way back through the River of Culture catching the start of the Hui Hawaii O Tenesi Hawaiian Civic Club’s last performance of the evening. As time was growing short we could not stay long, but grabbed a couple of quick shots. We were also lucky to run into some of the Ballet Folklorico Viva Panama dancers, and got a great picture of them as well.

The Pistols

We made it back to the Budweiser stage just before the end of the Pistols performance so we were able to catch a couple minutes of their show before heading on up to the Gateway stage to catch a bit of the Atmoic Blonde performance. They were tearing that stage up, and had the audience all the way up to the front edge of the stage, forming what was to all extents a mosh pit. It was nice to see an audience so engaged in the performance.

We returned to the Budweiser Stage and caught the introduction of The Trailer Choir by Fletch and Bailey from the Beaver 100.3 FM. On the Trailer Choir let me say this, you have to see that big man strut his stuff on the stage. The group mixed humor along with down home country jams. One of their songs facetiously invited the audience to head on down to the Waffle House with them after the performance.

The Trailer Choir performing

After listening to their couple of songs, we headed down to the Gateway stage and caught the first act in the Step Exhibition. Step is a form of dance where teams of dancers directly compete with each other each group trying to out perform the other.

As flash photography and video were not permitted of the headlining acts after 8:00pm we headed back to the Budweiser stage and was able to catch the lighted boat parade before heading out for the evening.

Many of the groups that performed during the 2009 Riverfest have music that is available online or on services such as Amazon’s Mp3 Store or iTunes, You can personally say thank you for coming to Clarksville and performing at Riverfest, by buying some of their songs. We have already purchased Off the Hillbilly Hook by the Trailer Choir on iTunes, and are looking forward to purchasing a couple of Jack Ingram albums in the next day or so as well!

Photo Gallery

The pictures from Saturday start on Page 2 of the gallery

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Regatta Results

CPRC member Don Sharpe speaks out against redevelopment at "fact-finding" community meeting

“Sued for a half million dollars for speaking out…”

“This ordinance is detrimental to the community…”

“The City Council ‘rubber stamped’ the mayor…”

“I don’t think they have a plan…”

“Our Leadership doesn’t want to listen to us….”

“CHA is a shadow, not a voice…”

“Preying on minority communities…”

“I’ve never been to a public forum where the public couldn’t speak…”

This is what representatives from the United States Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Institute for Justice  heard when they came to Clarksville Thursday to listen to community concerns about the about the city’s controversial redevelopment plans. Seventy people participated in a fact-finding meeting at the New Providence Community Center on Oak Street sponsored by the NAACP and the Urban Resource Center.

Walter Atkinson, Senior Conciliation Specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (Southeast Region IV), in stating that the meeting was “to hear community concerns,” said his role was in part to try and avert “litigation.”

“I am here to listen and observe,” Atkinson said, noting that it was letters from NAACP Chapter President Jimmie Garland and Terry McMoore of the Urban Resource Center that focused federal attention on this local issue. Atkinson had been “in communication” with Mayor Johnny Piper and with the Downtown District Partnership Board. Piper, DDP members and most sitting City Councilors did not attend this meeting. Jim Doyle, who was not re-elected to his Ward 8 seat, along with newly elected councilors Candy Johnson, David Allen and Jeff Burkhart did attend the meeting and spoke with the Ward 6 constituency.

The origin of the issue and the center of the controversy, which exploded in November, 2007, is a city ordinance that was quietly developed and passed by the City Council; at its core was section that designated two square miles, 1825 homes and small businesses in the downtown area, including City Hall and the Courthouse, as “blighted,” with the exception of property owned by Austin Peay State University. The ordinance also included an assemblage clause that would allow eminent domain to be used in “assembling” a group of properties to be transferred to private developers who would “maximize” the potential of the land involved.The land in question lies in Ward 6, the city’s only major minority ward, which, according to Garland, may be protected under the Civil Rights Acts of 1964.

In response to the passage of the ordinance, a grassroots activist group was formed: the Clarksville Property Rights Coalition, who staged an initial Standing Room Only meeting at the Hope Center on Legion Street in November, 2007, which attracted 50 people. Several weeks later, a second meeting at the Train Station on 10th Street was not only packed with concerned citizens but had the overflow crowd of 300 spilling out the doors. A postcard campaign was organized and specialists including representatives and lawyers involved in historic preservation and litigation became involved. Subsequent meetings, including one at APSU where the CPRC and others were not allowed to speak or make a presentation to city officials, and another meeting at the Burt School on Eighth Street where a last minute change in building capacity left nearly a hundred people standing in the parking lot, signs in hand, but unable to speak out to officials or hear what being said inside. Piper later admitted that of the written comments from the concerned residents were destroyed.

Joyce Vanderbilt of Kelly's on Riverside Drive displays the controversial ad on redevelopment

With city officials squaring off against Ward 6 residents and business owners, the redevelopment plans became the supercharged issue of 2008; an ad placed in a local newspaper by the CPRC made a case against the ordinance and proposed development, and The case, borne of a highly controversial ordinance passed by the Clarksville City Council in November, 2007, that “blighted” some two square miles of downtown Clarksville, culminated in a libel suit over a newspaper ad taking some city officials to task for their actions in supporting the ordinance that potentially opened the door for taking of properties by eminent domain and for private development.

In that case, Richard Swift, a developer who is a member of the Clarksville City Council, and Wayne Wilkinson, a member of Clarksville’s Downtown District Partnership, sued the CPRC because its members criticized them for supporting Clarksville’s controversial redevelopment plan, which authorizes the use of eminent domain for private development. In a newspaper ad, the CPRC noted that both Swift and Wilkinson are developers and said, “This Redevelopment Plan is of the developers, by the developers, and for the developers.” Virginia’s Institute for Justice represents the CPRC in the case.

Christine Walsh of the Institute for Justice

Becky (McMahan) was sued for a half million dollars for speaking out,” said Christina Walsh, Director of Community Organization for the Institute for Justice. “The Clarksville Center Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan violates the rights of home and business owners in the redevelopment area. The saga of how it was passed illustrates perfectly why the abuse of eminent domain is wrong. This plan would not pass muster in many states.”

“We do have the right to speak. We are not a Third World Country. Wake up, Sleeping Clarksville, and realize that this is our community. Question the ordinance and the need for the ordinance, and the potential use for the ordinance… even some of the city councilors did not understand this ordinance, and if they didn’t understand it thow can they vote on it.” — CPRC member

NAACP Chapter President Jimmie Garland Sr.

Jimmie Garland charged the City Council with “rubber stamping” the mayor on this issue and asked where “the plan” for development. “Knoxville showed us a plan and invited the community in; that’s not how it was done here There is no plan here.” Garland said that Clarksville’s present leadership does not want to represent us and “does not want to  listen to us.” (Ed: garland excepted Ward 6 Councilor Marc Harris, who opposed the plan). “Our legislators don’t listen to us.”

“Clearly, the confluence of bad law and politically connected developers here does not bode well for the citizens of Clarksville, who have been virtually abandoned by the very political officials they elected to represent their best interests…Local governments very often disguise their intentions of transferring perfectly fine properties to private developers, declaring so-called “blight removal,” “urban renewal,” or “slum clearance” as the justification for eminent domain. … they hide behind this “public use” concept in their quest to acquire property for the private use of developers.” ~~ Christine Walsh

Walsh noted that Piper himself said the plan “was not written in strict accordance with state law,” at which point the city amended rather than rescind the plan, and took a trip to Knoxville to view that city’s redevelopment  process.

Turner McCullough Jr. speaking about a state law that requires that community bodies must reflect the diversity of the community they represent.

Turner McCullough Jr. said “the mayor himself said there is no plan.” After the APSU public forum in which the “public” could not actively participate, and “when (the public) asked for information, we were told to shut up. We  were not considered.”

Wanda McMoore noted that the ordinance assesses what terms “underutilage” of land, which the Institute for Justice and the CPRC read as property that could rake in more profit and more taxes if uses for something other than what it is (i.e., three homes vs a strip mall, five homes versus and apartment complex, a family-owned restaurant vs waterfront condos).

Edward Vanderbilt of Kelly’s on Riverside Drive questioned why, under eminent domain his land and business could conceivably be taken for a minimum of money that wouldn’t even buy a plot of land somewhere else  while “the mayor sells his land and gets millions” (Mayor Piper owns land along Riverside Drive that is in the redevelopment and marina area).

Kevin Johnson of Veterans Services of America discusses the make-up of redevelopment committees

Kevin Johnson of the Veterans Services of America suggested that beyond stating what they do not want, the residents of the area and members of the CPRC, along with local community leaders, should assess what they do want, what kind of growth and positive change they would like to see in their community, and what they would use in lieu of the present ordinance.

It was noted that legislation passed in 2006 can withhold federal funds to communities that use public money to fund private development.

A theme that ran through many of the statements offered by concerned citizens included the following:

• The assemblage clause is of serious concern
• Eminent domain should not be used for private development. (”Take eminent domain out of this plan.”)
• Elected officials simply do not listen to or want to hear from dissenting constituents
• Developers and real estate people with properties in the affected area should recuse themselves from voting on issues which may benefit them (conflict of interest, ethics)
• The actual authors of the ordinance should be disclosed. (”Who wrote this damned thing?”
• According to law, redevelopment plans in Tennessee must be overseen by a housing authority. A determination of Kevin Johnson of the Veterans Services of America participation in the development and execution of the ordinance and redevelopment efforts should be disclosed (Wanda Mills of the CHA has said publicly the CHA did NOT do a study for this plan)
• Demographics (ethnicity, gender etc) of development and advisory boards should be disclosed and appointees to these public posts should be present at meetings when their appointments are confirmed, rather than simply being “a name on a piece of paper.”
• What are the qualifications of the people who created the ordinance?
• Why aren’t more members, if not all members, of the board from the areas impacted by this law?
• What have HUD and other federal monies really been spent on? Has HUD funding been redirected to other projects outside of the designated districts or parameters?

Walter Atkinson, Senior Conciliation Specialist, U.S.D.O.J.

In summing the comments accumulated during the fact finding meeting, Atkinson asked the audience to consider the following?

• If the plan is dropped, what do you want (in your community)?
• What qualifications do you feel people need to participate on redevelopment and related boards?
• What kind of oversight (and by whom) do you need for your community?

As the meeting closed, Terry McMoore noted that he had sent “many, many emails and invitations to people about this meeting, including city officials and Mayor Piper. Given the Mayor’’s lack of response and absence from this session, McMoore requested that Atkinson himself ask the Mayor to attend the next meeting on this issue.

Also attending were Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Representative David H. King, Director, Knoxville Field Office; , Louisville, HUD Fair Housing Equal Opportunity;  County Commissioner Lettie Kendall; CPRC spokesperson Rebecca McMahan; and Tim Harvey, former City Attorney.

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Tennessee stayed Red, selecting John McCain as its presidential choice over Barack Obama, 30,167 to 25,702, a disappointment to the Clarksville for Obama organization, which ran a strong and well-organized Democratic effort on Obama’s behalf.

Republican Lamar Alexander retained his U.S. Senate Seat handily with 32,006 over his closest challenger, Democrat Robert D. Tuke, with 16,329.

Marsha Blackburn (R) comfortably held her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, 22,573 to 13,150 over challenger Randy G. Morris.

John Tanner held his U.S. House of Representatives 8th District seat with 97% of the vote, or 6,420 votes.

Democratic Challenger Tim Barnes took the District 22 State Senate Seat, ousting incumbent Rosalind Kurita, 27,996 to 15,700.

Joe Pitts easily retained his Tennessee House of Representatives 67th District seat with 12,519 votes (97,26%).

Tennessee House of Representatives 68th District seat was retained by Curtis Johnson with 18,172 votes (97.94%).

The much touted Wheel Tax Referendum was soundly defeated, 32,924 to 18,353.

With 99.085 (28,282 votes), Judge Charles Smith retained his judiciary seat.

City Council races are as follows:

Ward 3: James Lewis, 1243; Vincent S. Kruk 345.

Ward 4: Wallace Redd, 1358; Edward Fowler, 672.

Ward 5: Candy Johnson, 1501; Gary K. Brown, 611, Aaryn Coyle, 268.

Ward 8: David Allen, 2517;  Jim Doyle, 1359, David Cutting, 633.

Ward 9: Joel Wallace, 2035.

Ward 12: Jeff Burkhart, 2297; Wayne Harrison, 1981.