Tube Float is a big event that requires a lot of cooperation and coordination among agencies

Parker Chamber Director Melissa Newton holds a t-shirt for the annual Parke Tube Float, which will be held June 10. She said the Tube Float is possible because so many agencies work together to make it happen.

The Parker Tube Float is this weekend. Last year's float attracted more than 3,700 registered participants, making Tube Float weekend one of the biggest of the summer weekends in the Parker area.

The Tube Float is a fundraiser for the Parker Regional Chamber of Commerce & Tourism. Chamber Director Melissa Newton said it takes a lot of work to put an event this large together. It involves the cooperation and coordination of many different agencies, as well as the work of many volunteers. She added that, almost no sooner is the Tube Float done for one year than planning begins on the following year's float. The logo, theme and date are usually selected at this time.

"The planning really gets going in January, after the start of the new year," she said.

The many volunteers are a main reason the Tube Float works as well as it does, Newton said. The Chamber has many volunteers who work the Tube Float year after year. She said they could use more this year for registration at La Paz County Park. They could also use volunteers with boats to serve as patrol boats and observers.

Newton said that she, her assistant Taeler Oberg, and the volunteers know what needs to be done, and they try to do everything early. They know there will always be something that comes up at the last minute.

There are a host of agencies who cooperate and coordinate their efforts to make the Tube Float happen. Newton said she did not yet have a full list for this year, but previous participating agencies have included Arizona State Parks, Arizona Game & Fish, the Towns of Parker and Quartzsite, CRIT Police Department, La Paz County Park, La Paz County Sheriff's Office, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, U.S. Coast Guard, Lake Havasu City, Mohave County, Buckskin Fire Department, San Bernardino County Fire Department, and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Private entities include Republic Services for trash pick-up, River Septic for portable toilets, and Blasian Secured Executive Transport for the shuttle busses. The t-shirts were printed by Natural Tees. Pirate's Den is sponsoring the after-float party. Newton thanked Circle K, Safeway and Walmart for donations of bottled water.

Newton said there were so many agencies and businesses involved that she couldn't begin to list them all.

One matter that has come up over the years is trash from the Float. This, in fact, was one of the concerns that led to moving the route from County Park to the BlueWater Resort & Casino to the current route from Buckskin Mountain State Park to County Park. Newton said volunteers will be handing out trash bags at the starting line, just like they have in recent years. She said she's happy to see that people are using them.

Newton said the Parker Bass Club helps pick up trash on Sunday morning after the float, but added they have not had a lot to pick up in the last couple of years.

"I’m very grateful everyone is picking up their trash," she said.

Newton also thanked the chamber directors and staff who came before her who organized the Tube Float into the event that it is today.

The new route was established under former-Chamber Director Mary Hamilton. There were a lot of bugs in the system in the first couple of years, but the Tube Float became a well-organized operation on its new route by the time Hamilton retired.

Newton said the event has been advertised nationwide over the Internet, as well as ads in publications and a billboard in Phoenix. She said the furthest any pre-registered participants have come from is New York.

Newton reiterated there are too many people and organizations involved in putting on the Tube Float, that she can't begin to list them all here.

"There are just so many to thank," she said.

One of the biggest event of the summer in the Parker area, the Parker Tube Float, will be held Saturday, June 10. While online pre-registratio…

The Parker Tube float is stupid.

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