GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Hydrofest, the traditional boat racing event, returns to Guntersville for its sixth year since it was brought back in 2018. It will be held on Lake Guntersville June 29 and 30. The festival doesn’t only bring boats and tourists, it brings in the bucks.
“We have tons of festivals around here, and they’re all fabulous and great, but this is something unique on the water that you can’t experience anywhere around here,” Marshall County Tourism and Sports Communication Director, Haley Rutland, said. “The closest place to have a boat race like this is Madison, Indiana which is over 6 hours away.”
Coined the “fastest water in the South”, Hydrofest features boats racing up to 200 miles per hour. Lake Guntersville is home to the 62-year record-holder boat Miss US 1, which set the record at 200.419 mph. For the first time since setting that record in 1962, that boat will be back on the water.
Last year, Hydrofest attracted people worldwide, with a group flying in from as far away as Australia. The event had roughly 20,000 attendees, generating $3.5 million in revenue impacts for the City of Guntersville.
“It is a boom for our economy overall in that they will dine in our restaurants, they buy gasoline, they stay at our hotels,” said Darlene Temple, VP of sales and marketing for the Hampton in Guntersville, said. “They bring in visitors from all across the country.”
Seattle native, Brad Luce, has always loved boat racing, watching the sport since he was young. He made the drive to Guntersville, over 2,500 miles, to attend his sixth consecutive Hydrofest. He told me that the racing makes him want to come, but the people make him want to stay.
“There’s southern hospitality, and then there’s Guntersville hospitality, and that’s just a little bit higher,” Luce said.
