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Atlanta’s Chattahoochee Raft Race destroyed in 1980

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The Chattahoochee Raft Race (also known as the Ramblin’ Raft Race) began with approximately 50 participants floating 29 miles down the Hooch from Buford Dam to Flat Shoals. The next run was considerably shorter, a 9.2-mile jaunt starting at Morgan Falls north of Sandy Springs and ending below U.S. 41 in Cobb County.

May 1978: Florida State University students, members of the Delta Gamma sorority, relax with their friends at Powers Ferry Landing during the Chattahoochee Raft Race.

Credit: Bill Mahan / AJC file

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Credit: Bill Mahan / AJC file

Even though the race course has become smaller, participation, both in the water and along the river, has increased massively. Too fast and too soon, some thought, because of the waste left behind.

An Atlanta Journal editorial published on May 26, 1971 pointed out that many rafters were rednecks while pitching new ideas. “Too many people entered and too many left irresponsibly, leaving their mess in and along the river.

“Next year? Fewer entries, tighter restrictions and perhaps cash deposits to ensure those who come for fun stick around to help with the cleanup,” the editorial concludes.

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The newspaper’s 1972 editorial indicated that many of these suggestions would be implemented in that year’s upcoming race. Restrictions on entry, $100 cleaning bonds and a ban on wooden “makeshift items… match contraptions” got the green light.

“Last year’s race recorded 4,700 registrations and 20,000 spectators,” specifies the Journal. “But the restrictions will make the process more orderly and help prevent public outcry over the mess left behind.”

They did not do it.

After the 1978 race, Journal readers wrote to complain about how “trash left behind spoiled an otherwise perfect outing,” while suggesting that cleanup crews could fix the problems.

Rumors of the end of the scrappy raft race, which obsessed the event virtually from the start, gained traction as the Chattahoochee idea would become Atlanta’s garbage pit in late May , as well as the scene of unhindered drunken revelry, increasingly irritating on the nerves of the residents.

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The Ramblin' Raft race on the Chattahoochee River kicks off Memorial Day weekend in the 1970s.

Credit: STEVE DEAL/AJC 1970

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Credit: STEVE DEAL/AJC 1970

Newspaper columnist Ron Hudspeth was taken to task by readers when he declared that “the atmosphere of the race has always been: peace, brother.” Hudspeth published some angry reactions in his May 30, 1978 column.

“Everyone loves a party, including me,” wrote Tammie Cairns, a WSB Radio reporter who covered the previous year’s event, adding that she “saw thousands of young people, teenagers , drunk and mostly drugged at 9:30 in the morning. ” While traveling down the river in August 1977, Cairns noted that “the ugly remains of the raft race were still visible: beer cans and wood left by rafts that had broken apart.”

Squabbles over who should sponsor the event, as well as the state Department of Natural Resources seeking legislation to effectively end what DNR Commissioner Joe Tanner dubbed the “free-for-all” scene of the race, caused the 1980 event to be the last. Around 300,000 people reportedly showed up to run in the river or rejoice on its banks.

In a May 30, 1980 column, Hudspeth considered the Raft Race dead in the water.

“Pause for a moment of silence and pay your final respects to the death of a giant,” he said. “He died before he was 12. At one time he was a fiery and sweet young man, a good-time Charlie in the best sense of the word. But in recent years, the giant had become a monster.

“The Chattahoochee River Festival, aka Ramblin’ Raft Race, is dead. Long live the Raft Race – in memory, of course.

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