The Norway Bay community rallied for the final of three weekends devoted to its annual regatta competitions and festivities, with residents of all ages participating in a variety of swimming events on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
The three-weekend marathon event, organized by The Norway Bay Municipal Association (NBMA), has been a highlight of the summer for local families for nearly a century.
“The goal is friendly competition, but really, it’s about bringing people together,” said Trish Lynch, former president of the association and longtime volunteer for the community.
“This is like a family reunion for us. People come back year after year, whether they are racing or just catching up with old friends.”
For many participants, the regatta was more than just a series of races. It’s a cherished tradition that brought generations together.
“A lot of people base their holidays around this weekend for all of the events, because they participated in them when they were kids,” Lynch said. “And now they’re parents or even grandparents. So it’s that tradition that’s really important to people.”
Carrie Bothwell, regatta director, explained the heart of the weekends of competitive races and events is centered around the George Hermann Trophy.
Children from the Norway Bay community competed in two separate age categories, for the Hermann and Junior Hermann awards, accumulating as many points as possible over the course of the three weekends in an effort to get their names engraved on the trophy.
According to Bothwell, the first weekend included a bicycle scavenger hunt, a basketball free-throw competition, a canoe and kayak regatta, and a dragon boat race.
The second weekend featured a long-distance run, a field day, and a triathlon. The third and last weekend was dedicated to swimming events, with short-distance races held on Saturday morning and a long-distance race on Sunday morning.
Despite the closure of the Norway Bay pier for repairs, the short-distance races were still held at the community’s new docks, however the relay races, usually a popular swimming event, did not happen this year because of the dock configuration.
Lynch explained the energy for the swimming component of the regatta was particularly high this year as one of the community’s cottagers, Julie Brousseau, swam in the 4x200m freestyle relay race at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
On Sunday evening, the community gathered at Bristol’s Centennial Hall for an awards ceremony to celebrate winners from all three weekends.
The room quickly filled with children and proud parents sat in a small shed-like hall as electric fans attempted to keep the tightly packed room cool. The children sat at the front, waiting to receive their medal after three weekends of dedicated competition, and eagerly waited to hear the winners of the trophy.
This year’s winners in the Junior George Hermann division were Rylie Einarson for the girls and Austin Bailey for the boys. In the older age bracket for the George Hermann trophy, Mateo Harris and Evan Cairney tied in the boys division, and Alexandra Harris won for the girls division.
The regatta served as an important fundraiser for the NBMA, which uses membership fees and donations to offer various programs for children and families throughout the summer. The association raised over $1,300 throughout the weekends of events.
After the trophies and the award ceremony, families faced off in an airband showdown – the final competition of the regatta event – with each band member displaying great mastery of their respective imaginary instruments as they rocked and rolled their way through popular tunes.
“It’s really great to connect with people, because when you’re here for six weeks, you tend to hang around with your group of friends,” Bothwell said. “So it’s fun to come to these events and connect with all the people that you don’t normally see every day.”
