The first few years, only about five locals participated, building boats right on the beach before the race. In 1993, for the inaugural race in New Richmond, it was as simple as throwing a piece of industrial cardboard into the river, hopping on and seeing how far they’d float before it sank. “They provided cardboard and tape and said, have at it.” “They had an idea to build boats on the beaches of the river,” Ray Perszyk, who started participating in the race the second year it ran, told Ohio Magazine in 2015. The race grew out of a burst of creativity from locals Shanna and Jim Morarity, who were perhaps inspired by a similar event hosted by Southern Illinois University Carbondale since 1974. The entrance to the Cardboard Boat Museum This is the scene every August in New Richmond, home to both this race, known as the International Cardboard Boat Regatta, and the world’s only Cardboard Boat Museum. Captained by all ages, the cardboard boats range from canoes and kayaks to elaborate vessels shaped like guitars, ambulances and battleships. It's not for lack of skill of the captain-instead, it’s because the boats in the race are all made from cardboard. Some won’t finish the short 200-yard journey alongside the town's Front Street they’ll sink before reaching the finish, and that's expected. Next week, more than 70 colorful boats will set out from tiny New Richmond, Ohio, in the southwestern corner of the state, and race down the Ohio River.
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