Whither the regatta

Officials must start now to put event back on track

The last- minute cancellation of this year’s EQT Three Rivers Regatta is a letdown for water enthusiasts and a blow to the city’s image. The focus now must be on salvaging the event for next year and ensuring that there is better oversight of event planners and promoters hired in the future.

Regatta board Solicitor Charles D. Scholz blamed the cancellation on LionHeart Event Group, saying the event management entity owes money to various vendors — including the city and county — and hadn’t purchased liability insurance for this year’s extravaganza.

But there’s lots of blame to go around.

It’s the responsibility of the regatta board to oversee contractors, and the city and county should exercise some degree of oversight as well. If the city is owed $ 28,0000 for regatta security dating to 2017 and 2018, and the county sheriff is owed more than $ 25,000 for helping with security last year, and the state is owed for the use of Point State Park, then local officials should have been cognizant of the event’s tenuous status and acted long before now.

Part of the problem may have been that LionHeart was paying some city agencies even as other bills stacked up. But that just highlights the need for better overall supervision of entities hired to run such events.

While the cancellation of the regatta will be a disappointment to the half- million or so people expected to turn out for the weekend event, the implications are broader. Some vendors are out money they spent preparing for the event. A sand sculpture in Point State Park will be

completed — LionHeart already paid the artist — but the work won’t have the wide and appreciative audience the regatta would have generated.

Also, cancelling a highly popular and venerable event — the regatta dates to 1978 — sends the wrong message about the city.

The good news is that Pittsburgh has rebounded from event glitches before. In 2009, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust took over the annual arts festival from the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh amid issues involving the event’s direction and financial health. That festival just competed its 59th year.

The regatta board and city officials have plenty of time to put the regatta back on track for next year. A city blessed with three rivers should be able to throw at least one big summer party on them.

Lake Fong/ Post- Gazette Charles Scholz, member of the Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta board of directors announces the cancellation of this year’s regatta at a press conference on July 30, while Mayor Bill Peduto, left, looks on.