The Englewood Beach Waterfest Board of Directors, and the OPA Racing (Offshore Powerboat Association) organizers are working closely together on the vision for the World Championship race, currently scheduled to take place this Fall in Englewood, Florida. This would be the season’s finale for the OPA races, that are currently scheduled to take place, as noted on the organization’s website www.oparacing.org.

“We wanted to communicate that we are following the information coming out of the Governor’s office here in Florida, and will be working closely with our local and county government officials, first responders and ancillary organizations, to move cautiously towards the planning of this Fall’s event. We are all cognizant of the current situation presented by Covid-19, and wanted to assure the public that a collaborative plan would be developed to incorporate the specific directives provided by officials, to include those guidelines to satisfy state and local regulations regarding Covid-19 in place at the time of the event this year. The financial impact of Waterfest, has proven to be a significant driver of revenue over the last several years, benefitting small businesses in Englewood, Venice, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, and surrounding communities.” said Steve Gardiner, President of the Waterfest Board of Directors. “As we move forward into June, our marketing team is busy working on the final stages of development for our newly expanded and, soon-to- be-released website, which will make it even easier for everyone to navigate and access pertinent information. We continue to be thankful for the partnerships the Waterfest board, organizers and 300+ team of volunteers, have cultivated over the past 6 years – we will need those physical and financial systems within the local community to support the mission of Waterfest this year more than ever.” further relayed Gardiner.