On your MARC, get wet, go get boxes to build a boat

Cut up, tape up, dress up, gear up for the Cardboard Boat Race. Photo: courtesy of Park City Recreation // M.A.R.C.

PARK CITY, Utah — Park City Recreation is inviting families to send their homemade cardboard creations into the pool for the sixth annual Cardboard Boat Race on Aug. 29 at the Municipal Athletic Recreation Center (MARC).

The annual event serves as Park City Recreation’s farewell-to-summer celebration and is open to racers ages 5 to 15. Costumes and creatively decorated boats are highly encouraged.

Cardboard Boat Race. Photo: courtesy of Park City Recreation // M.A.R.C.

Online early registration, is open until August 20, and there are limited spots. 

Registered participants will receive a starter kit that includes three large cardboard boxes, one roll of duct tape and the official rulebook. Kits can be picked up at the MARC. Participants who register after the deadline, if space remains, may still be able to race but will not receive the starter materials.

Race heats will take place one after the other with advancing teams getting time in between to make any boat repairs. The top boats in each heats will advance, and all others will get to race for the chance to make it back into the final in what organizers are calling a “grudge match.”

“Sail On!” they say.