Resources:
Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: National swimming and rowing events to bring thousands to Ypsi area
2026 USRowing RowFest National Championships
Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. Following the USA Artistic Swimming Junior Olympics on July 4th at EMU, the Ann Arbor Sports Commission is now inviting thousands of athletes and their families to Ford Lake in Ypsilanti, where USRowing's RowFest National Championship returns July 10th through 19th. The 10-day event will welcome youth and adult competitors from across the country, while inviting the community to experience one of the nation's premier rowing competitions. Joining me today to talk more about RowFest and its impact on the Ypsilanti area is Meghan Hughes, the Director of the Ann Arbor Sports Commission. Meghan, thank you so much for joining me today!
Meghan Hughes: Thank you for having me! I'm very excited to talk about this with the Ypsilanti community and share this exciting opportunity to be able to visit and see this event!
Lee Van Roth: The Ann Arbor Sports Commission has kind of a history at this point of attracting large-scale, national events and bringing them right here to Washtenaw. What makes RowFest such an important event for the region, both in terms of the sports perspective, but also for the local community as well?
Meghan Hughes: The RowFest, and all rowing events that are now being brought to this rowing course, is a very unique opportunity for us and for a lot of sports commissions, just because of how the rowing course was built and started. It started with a unique collaboration with Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti Township, our office in partnership with Destination Ann Arbor, we are a division of Destination Ann Arbor, and the Ypsilanti Marriott at Eagle Crest. Without all of these partnerships and the vision to make this rowing course to be built on Ford Lake, these events could not come to Washtenaw County. So, we're so thankful for all of the partnerships to be able to give us an opportunity to host these rowing events. And what's so unique and special to us about RowFest is how large it is and the number of days this event is, the number of athletes, the numbers of families that come to RowFest, we are lucky enough that we hosted it for the first time last year, had 2,500 athletes, $7.2 million in economic impact, but also that USRowing loved our community, the course, our businesses so much that they asked to return back for a returning year--to come back to Ypsilanti and to Washtenaw County. So, we're very thankful for this event, and it's very unique and special to us because of how the course was built. And it wasn't just Ann Arbor Sports Commission. It takes so many entities to make this course happen, but also the event itself.
Lee Van Roth: I know that I personally have not had the opportunity to check out a rowing competition happening live, especially one so close by. What can folks that attend kind of expect from RowFest?
Meghan Hughes: Well, I welcome you and everybody to attend! And the great thing about this, with it being 10 days, hopefully, you can find some time in your schedule to pop by. It is at Ford Lake Park, so if you just pop that into your Google Maps, you'll be able to get there. Parking is $10, and that is just for parking. Every other portion of the event is free admittance. You can come watch. There's a jumbotron. It's really quite an amazing fanfare experience--lots of vendor tents, music, tons of trailers and boats. I welcome everybody to come and volunteer if they are interested. And you can learn more about the event at our website, annarborsports.org, on how to volunteer. And we have an amazing AI tool now on our website as well, that you can ask that AI tool questions that you may have regarding the event and parking and anything like that. That AI tool can also help you answer your questions. But I welcome everybody to come experience this because it is unique. And a lot of people have not experienced rowing, and it's quite a beautiful sport to watch!
Lee Van Roth: And you had mentioned a little bit about the economic impact that RowFest last year had had on the area. Can you kind of expand on how that, or how an event like this, kind of drives that money right back into the community?
Meghan Hughes: Yes. So, what's so great and why we do what we do is attracting sporting tournaments and events to Washtenaw County is to bring visitors, families, athletes, coaches to our area to stay in our hotels. They then stay in our restaurants--or eat in our restaurants. They buy gasoline at our stations. And then, that has the effect on the employees that are working there. It's kind of that trickle-down effect of how people spending money in our community has an impact, and it goes across many different areas. So, what's so great is these rowers go to Kroger down the street and get a ton of bananas. So, there are so many different businesses that are receiving impact, not from residents that they are expecting every day, but new opportunities for people spending money in Washtenaw County, while also experiencing the great things our community has to offer and will hopefully want to return back again on their own.
Lee Van Roth: And another money side of things, on the money side as well. One of the more unique aspects of RowFest is this concept to community fundraiser benefiting local nonprofits in the area. Can you share about any of the organizations that are being highlighted with that?
Meghan Hughes: Yes. So, there are two different opportunities that is happening this year at RowFest. One being new that is a really exciting concept too they make "ergs", and they are a vendor of the USRowing, and they will be at RowFest. They are having a tent on-site and welcoming community members, rowers, attending the event, anybody to come to their tent and row on an erg. And for so many meters, they are donating up to $5,000 to a local community nonprofit called Real Agape. If you are not aware of who and what they are, I highly recommend you look up their organization as well. They are very focused on getting Ypsilanti youth into sports and trying new sports, exposing them to different sports. They have a summer camp right now that is going on. So, we're exciting about the opportunities that this $5,000 can give them to experience new opportunities for that. Another fundraising opportunity that we did last year that our office is exciting to continue doing this year is for any nonprofit in Washtenaw County that volunteers 50 hours, you can get $500 back to your nonprofit, and there are plenty of volunteer opportunities that you do not need any rowing experience for. Actually, I ended up driving a boat several times last year, which I've never done. But outside of that too, their plenty of jobs that are available to anybody who has no experience within rowing. And we still have a lot of volunteer opportunities available, so I welcome anybody who is interested in potentially supporting a nonprofit they work very closely with to still contact me at mhughes@annarbor.org, and you can also find that on our website or just to sign up for a volunteer shift to try something new.
Lee Van Roth: This is WEMU's On The Ground Ypsi. I'm Lee Van Roth talking with Meghan Hughes about the return of RowFest National Championship to Ford Lake. So, Meghan, we talked about how a large-scale event like this is obviously going to drive some money and dollars into our local businesses and the community at large. Especially with this being the second time RowFest is taking place here in Ypsi, how do you see this event maybe transforming Ypsi into this hotspot for these big athletic events?
Meghan Hughes: That's a great question! It's all about how the community embraces RowFest and other sporting events, and our director of community engagement has reached out to many of the Ypsilanti businesses. And we're so thankful for the reaction that we've gotten and the discounts that they want to offer the rowers to offer them to come to their business and get a discount to drive business and really engage the local community and getting them in their business while also engaging with the rowers themselves. The Ypsilanti Marriott Eagle Crest is, again, an amazing partner of the rowing course, but also the event itself. And they're looking to stream the rowing event directly at their facility while also welcoming master's rowers for a happy hour at their restaurant as well. So, the Ypsilanti community is embracing it, and we're so thankful for that! And they continue to do so with our many other events that the Ann Arbor Sports Commission brought to Ypsilanti. We've hosted so many in Ypsilanti over the last few years and are fortunate to be able to continue to do so and are very thankful of those businesses' interest in welcoming the athletes and families and coaches to their restaurants and stores.
Lee Van Roth: And if there is someone listening who is after hearing all of these wonderful things about RowFest, now considering coming out on one of those 10 days to check out the athleticism and everything else RowFest has to offer, what do you hope that they ultimately experience and what they take away from it?
Meghan Hughes: I hope they experience good weather. I hope that they experience meeting new people. I met a lot of new people last year, and it was really exciting and new conversations while learning something new. This may not be for everybody, but if there's a small portion of the population that comes and kind of sparks an interest in rowing, I hope they find a local learn-to-row opportunity. I know the Ann Arbor Rowing Club has one where they say, "This looks like a lot of fun! All ages can do this! I want to try this!" and learn how they can find a local rowing group and potentially try the sport for themselves.
Lee Van Roth: Meghan, I want to thank you so much for joining me here today and for sharing more about this year's RowFest on Ford Lake, what that means for the rowing community, for the greater Ypsilanti community! Hopefully, we all have our fingers crossed for warm, nice, sunny weather on the lake throughout those 10 days. Thank you again for bringing this to us!
Meghan Hughes: Thank you for having me! I really enjoyed talking about it and appreciate the opportunity!
Lee Van Roth: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU, Ypsilanti.
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