The 19th Annual Lake Hartwell Antique Boat Festival, presented by the Blue Ridge Chapter of the Antique Classic Boat Society, is scheduled for April 21 at Hartwell Marina. This event is part of Lake Hartwell’s 50th Anniversary Celebration.

The show attracts visitors from the entire region to view and enjoy the beautifully restored wooden boats which hail from as far away as Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Florida and Michigan.

In addition to the 50-plus antique and classic wooden boats, Porsche Club of America will be exhibiting their stylish sport cars featuring up to 50 vehicles from surrounding communities.

Other than a $1 parking fee that is collected by the Hart High School Band, there is no charge to the public.

The festivities will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Activities include opening ceremony, captain start your engines, hands on youth boat building, remote control boat demonstration by the Southeast Modelers, boat rides to the public, the Porsche car exhibit and an array of venders selling food, snacks, beverages, boat paraphernalia and specialty items.

For more information, contact Julie Moore by email at julmor48@gmail.com.

The Hart County Chamber is casting out its lines and reeling in more tourism to the area. The board of commissioners heard recently from new tourism and marketing director Nicki Myers, who outlined a number of initiatives already in progress, including 14 fishing tournaments scheduled through June. “Are these the only tournaments coming to Hart County this year?,” commissioner Dan Reyen asked. Myers said she’s also working on a major bass fishing tournament for November.

“I’m working with the American Bass Anglers for a joint fishing tournament in November. Right now it’s going to be quite large and a joint effort between American Bass Anglers and Fishing for Reel,” Myers said. She said she is in contact with both groups to work out the details.

The county has lost numerous bass tournaments in the past because its million-dollar mega boat ramp lacked a t-dock and restrooms. Last month, work began to build the new dock and install restrooms. Myers told the board that work is on schedule.

“It’s my goal to have a fishing tournament at the mega ramp scheduled for every weekend,” she said. Work, Myers said, is also being done to give the Teasley-Holland House a facelift. The house is home to the chamber and historical society offices and museum.  Myers said the chamber recently received a $9,500 grant from Hart EMC for much-needed repairs to the building’s roof, landscaping and a brick walkway.  Additionally, Myers also told the board she’s working on some new marketing strategies such as agri-tourism and heritage tourism.

“Heritage tourism includes taking things like the walking tour and expanding on it,” Myers said. “Also, having a quilt trail and connecting it to other communities in our area who also have quilt trails. Also, with agri-tourism, we’re surrounded by beautiful farmland and we’re seventh in the state in agriculture. So we have opportunities in agriculture we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.”

Myers told the board four new events have been added to the chamber calendar this year, including the Great Bunny Hunt in April, the Lake Hartwell 50th Anniversary block party this summer as well as a Lake Hartwell arts and photo exhibit and a 50-mile yard sale and golf tournament.

Courtesy Anderson Independent Mail

The Walmart FLW fishing tournament returns to the Upstate this week, bringing dozens of anglers to the region to compete for cash.

The tournament is named for Forrest L. Wood, the founder of Ranger Boats, and has been going on for 17 seasons. This is the second year that the multi-stop tour has come to Hartwell Lake. The four-day event begins Thursday morning at Portman Shoals Marina in Anderson.

Anglers will leave from the marina at 7 a.m. every day except Sunday, when they will depart at 7:30 a.m.

Weigh-ins will be held at the marina on Thursday and Friday at 3 p.m. Weekend weigh-ins will be held at the TD Convention Center in Greenville. Those weigh-ins will begin at 4 p.m. The convention center in Greenville will serve as the site of the FLW Outdoors Expo, which will run from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The fishing tournament is hosted by the convention and visitors bureaus in Anderson and Greenville. Kathy Benson, director of the Anderson Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the event is expected to generate at least $600,000 in the region, with $354,000 of that flowing into Anderson County.

“We are so excited to have the tournament returning for a second year,” Benson said. “We think that fishing tournaments such as this will become a major part of, and a major drawing card for, Anderson County.”

Anderson County Council Chairman Tom Allen said Hartwell Lake is one of the county’s “unsung assets.”

“Attracting national events such as this tournament is vital to promoting economic development through tourism in the Upstate,” Allen said in a prepared statement. “It is gratifying to note that not only did they choose our community in 2011, but our own special flavor of Southern hospitality lured them back for a second year.”

Glenn Brill, the county’s director of parks, recreation and tourism, said the FLW fishing tournament had a direct economic effect of $316,858 in Anderson County last year.

“They loved it here so much last year that they told us they were desperate to return to Lake Hartwell,” Brill said. “We are thrilled to have them back.”

Jason Christie of Park Hill, Okla., took last year’s top prize and is expected to be back in the Upstate this year.