TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa tradition is scrapped, again.
The Great Raft Race is no more. Organizers announced there will be no race this year or in future years.
Initially launched in 1973, the race became a staple of Labor Day with racers and spectators turning out year after year. The original version ended in 1991 due to logistics and liability concerns. It returned in 2015 and ran for another decade, minus a few years scrapped due to construction.
Seth Erkenbeck, the race's modern-day executive director, and others felt Tulsans were too disconnected from their riverfront and saw it as an asset.
“We really wanted to see the Arkansas River Corridor developed and activated, and we wanted water in the river,” he told 2 News.
Organizers said that now that Zink Lake is developed and Tulsans have more options for outdoor recreation, they are ending the race that helped champion these developments.
“I think that our team collectively feels like we accomplished what we set out to do," Erkenbeck told us. "There's now an outfitter that is doing kayaking, canoe paddles that you can rent and float from Sand Springs to Tulsa, the same route as the raft race. And that's all we ever really wanted.”
When we asked him about the future, he replied, "The door is open to potentially do something in the future."
He continued: "I think we've thrown around the idea of activating the whitewater flume in front of Gathering Place. We did a homemade raft exhibition during the Big [Dam] Party last year, where a handful of homemade rafts went down the whitewater park."
WATCH: Great Raft Race is no more, Tulsa tradition scrapped
"There's potential to do something in that capacity in the future. But overall, the long eight-mile traditional raft race, we felt like it was the right time to sunset."
A final event will celebrate the legacy of the Great Raft Race, details are on their website.
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