Cardboard Cup Regatta returns to Spring Meadow Lake

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"Dad! It won't sink," Brianne Dewitt shouted to her father at Spring Meadow Lake on Saturday morning, lamenting her Cardboard Cup Regatta entry's failure to resemble its namesake, the Titanic.

Dewitt and co-pilot Steve Weber tugged and pushed their creation -- which had capsized once -- as her father Greg tread water nearby, a cardboard iceberg on his head.

The Dewitts and Weber were among about a dozen entrants in the event, which aimed to raise money for and awareness of the nearby Spring Meadow Resources. The organization provides services to the developmentally disabled.

The trio had embedded wire in the hull of the vessel. On a tug from Greg, the cord was supposed to rip through the cardboard, causing the unwieldy creation to break in half.

While all didn't go according to plan, Brianne Dewitt afterward said she had plenty of fun. And contest judges named the team "most enthusiastic."

Though the crew's idea could be considered unique, the event was full of creativity -- with entrants running the gamut of effort and ingenuity. Scores of fans cheered the odd creations from the beach, with laughter rippling through the crowd as some overturned or folded in half.

Teams in several categories paddled or pushed their cardboard craft from the starting point to a buoy before heading across the finish line.

Self-described "nerds" home for summer from college fashioned a "Star Wars"-style destroyer on Friday night. A large wedge of cheese took to the waves. Parents helped kids build boats out of odd boxes and duct tape. A race car slowly made its way across the water.

One family, the Dennings, spent months painstakingly forming two ships from appliance boxes, using jigsaws and contact cement.

"I've got way more time into it than I want to admit," father Chris Denning said. "But it was a blast."

The long hours of work -- the Pond Rocket's bottom hull was formed with four layers of laminated cardboard, and the craft came complete with bulkheads and the lines of a speedboat -- paid off for Chris and his son Taran, who took home the grand championship trophy.

Chris' daughter Brianna, who piloted the smaller Pond Racer, took home the judges' award for "most attractive boat."

As the temperature approached triple digits, the regatta was a welcome reprieve and served a good cause, Spring Meadow Resources Development Director Tiffany Sauer said.

The event, which had been held annually but disappeared for a few years, raised money for the organization's private park. The facility offers a safe environment for disabled adults to camp, fish and enjoy the outdoors, Sauer said.

Since 1975, Spring Meadow Resources has provided housing, in-home care services, adult day programming and other services to disabled residents in the Helena area.

Contact Larry Kline at 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com.

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