Starting Friday night, August 10th the Western New York Offshore Powerboat Association's (WNYOPA) annual Buffalo Poker Run will rumble into the Buffalo Harbor. This year is going to be one of the biggest turnouts ever for the Poker Run and over 80 power boats are expected to arrive from all over the the US and Canada, with over 300 participants vying for top prizes. Each year the number of boats has escalated, and the excitement surrounding the event has grown. This is an excellent way to shine a light on power boating opportunities on Lake Erie and in particular surrounding the Erie Basin Marina and Canalside, which is where much of the activity occurs.
Starting Friday night, the teams will all gather at Templeton Landing for dinner. Saturday the power boats hit the water running, with destinations that include Erie Canal in Tonawanda, Grand Island and Sunset Bay Beach with three stops to Canalside throughout the day. Come check out the dry dock displays on Friday and catch the load-ins on Saturday. When these boats get going it is really a sight to see. Proceeds from the Poker Run go to Excalibur Leisure Skills "a private, non-profit all volunteer, charitable organization dedicated to providing COST FREE adaptive boating and fishing opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged individuals."
This seems super cool! I was down in the Buffalo river kayaking last Sunday and was really surprised at how many other kayakers there were in the river. On top of that I was amazed at how many boats were in the Harbor and river too.