A tale from the Kanawha River

As many of us recover from our three-day holiday weekend, here's a tale of physical endurance from the Great Kanawha, as it was once called.

I remember the old Sternwheel Regatta. In 1986, I think it was, some friends and I ventured into the Regatta on a Saturday night to be among thousands to hear a live concert by the Beach Boys.

My memory may be faulty, but what started as a tribute to the sternwheelers that once plied the Great Kanawha became a festival so large that sternwheelers were no longer welcome. And so it died.