Last Week I Told You That Few Things Were As Philly As The Broad Street Run. The Dad Vail Regatta Is One Of Those.
This year is the 85th Anniversary of Philadelphia’s Dad Vail Regatta, the largest intercollegiate collegiate rowing competition in all of America. This yearly rowing competition draws participation from over 100 US Colleges.
This year — at the 85th running of the Dad Vail Regatta — deviated from its traditional position on the Schuylkill River since 1953. Due to dredging in the Schuylkill, this year’s competition will be on the Cooper River in Camden instead.
Operating under what would eventually be the Dad Vail Regatta Rowing Association, the first competition would be run in 1934. The association would first be formed in 1939, and Dad Vail was born.
For years, the rowers of the Regatta sailed right past Boathouse Row, first built in the 1870s and which recently had its glow restored just this past year. The Fairmount Park Conservancy joined forces this year with Boathouse Row to spend $2.1 Million to add 6,400 individual LED lights.
The row isn’t the only thing to glow on the river. The iconic Lemon Hill Mansion, which can be seen at night above Boathouse Row emanating a yellow glow into the Fairmount Park night sky. Henry Platt’s 1800 mansion offers which is a beautifully lit structure against the river at night.
The Dad Vail Regatta was first sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management in 2010 and Thomas Jefferson University in 2019.
It’s iconic Philadelphia, wherever it’s hosted. It always will be.
And who was the big winner this year? It was Philly’s own Drexel University Rowing.
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Michael Thomas Leibrandt
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