Tales from the Mark Side: The Conservative Voice in Manatee County
Are you ready for Manatee County’s largest spectator event? Come out and see me!
By Mark Young
If the ratings are accurate, many of you probably aren’t watching much of the Olympics this time around so you’ll have some extra time this Saturday to get out to the annual Bradenton Area River Regatta and have some fun.
I, too, skipped the opening ceremonies for the first time that I can remember. I’ll admit that I’m still watching some of the competition because it’s not the athletes’ fault that China is transitioning back into a brutal dictatorship hell bent on a new world order.
All I have to really say about that is eff China and the stolen technology they rode in on.
But I’ll put politics aside this time around with the one exception of Nancy Pelosi’s warning to our athletes not to anger China. I just can’t let that one go.
In reality, it’s the other way around. The 1,000-year-old wicked witch of the California west should have told China not to anger our athletes. China needs a reminder that had it not been for American war fighters, they’d all be speaking Japanese.
There will undoubtedly be a lot going on after the Olympics with Russia’s imminent invasion of Ukraine. China will be watching America’s reaction closely as they eye their own invasion of Taiwan.
Biden’s threat of sanctions isn’t going to deter anything and the world already knows this current administration surrendered to terrorists so there is no fear of America under this president.
But I digress and my focus this weekend will be on some good old fashioned down-home family entertainment at the annual Bradenton Area River Regatta.
You all need to get out and have some fun and, at least for this weekend, put to bed all the concerns of the world falling apart under liberal leadership. Try to put to rest the very notion that Joe Biden is in charge of the free world as we knock on the door of World War III.
If that doesn’t give you nightmares, I don’t know what would.
Which is why you should come out to the area’s largest spectator event. It draws some 100,000 people throughout the day with a plethora of entertainment opportunities at the choosing.
If the crowd size has scared you away from this unique event in the past, it shouldn’t. It sounds like a lot of people, and it is, but I’ve never had an issue with parking and it’s a crowd that ebbs and flows throughout the entire day.
Most pack onto the Green Bridge to watch the high-speed action of Formula 2 boat racing, jet ski daredevils and other spectacular water entertainment.
Others just like to come for the land based shows along the Bradenton Riverwalk and in Palmetto, while others come just for the concerts. Others still, just like to walk it like the festival it is and grab some great food from a variety of local restaurants and food trucks.
If you can’t find something to enjoy at the Regatta, you simply aren’t trying.
On top of all that, you have a chance to meet me!
Not that anyone does and I don’t blame you if you don’t, but I’ll be helping out 941 VETS at their vendor tent on the Palmetto side for a good part of the day. 941 VETS is a social media organization that supports veteran owned businesses.
Check them out on Facebook and come by on Saturday to say hello, and see all of the other great vendors. The Pittsburgh Pirates, Bradenton Marauders, Tampa Bay Lightning and others all put out some great games for the kiddos.
P.S., the event’s only beer tent is always on the Palmetto side so I just gave you the excuse to make it over our way. Free shuttles run throughout the day to get back and forth over the bridge.
The Regatta returns on Saturday after having to cancel last year in the early weeks of the pandemic when no one knew what to do. Now we know all we ever wanted to know about this virus and it’s time to get back to living our lives.
Put down the remote on Saturday and come on out and have some dang fun! We need it.
Check out all the events, concerts and start times at bradentonarearegatta.com.
