Tulsa's 'Great Raft Race' Is Coming Back

The race was a Tulsa tradition from 1973 to 1991, drawing hundreds of rafts and thousands of racers and spectators to the Arkansas River every Labor Day weekend.

Thursday, July 16th 2015, 9:36 am

By: Richard Clark

Tulsa's 'Great Raft Race' Is Coming Back

The Great Raft Race is returning to Tulsa.

The race was a Tulsa tradition from 1973 to 1991, drawing hundreds of rafts and thousands of racers and spectators to the Arkansas River every Labor Day weekend.

Race organizers have built a web site to solicit entries for the 2015 edition of the race. It will be held on Monday, September 7, 2015.

Visit the web site here.

They say this year's Great Raft Race, presented by Public Service Company of Oklahoma, will launch from the Sand Springs River City Park and float nine miles to the boat ramp at West Festival Park in Tulsa. They say it will culminate with a number of activities, local food and entertainment.

Over the years the race grew in popularity. One of its most popular attractions was the parade of floats held on the Saturday before the race.

The rafts that took part in the race ranged from the absurd to the very serious, with some entries demonstrating a tremendous amount of nautical engineering.