It is time for another special edition of Weekly News Now.

This time we have a big event coming up in the Tri-Cities.

We have Mark Williams here.

He is the new event director... Well, as of the last couple of years, for Tri-City Water Follies.

Mark, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you!

For people who maybe don't know what Tri-City Water Follies boat races is, Mark, give us a brief rundown of what to expect.

Oh, wow.

Well, first of all, it's a community event.

Its family fun, you know, we're super excited.

We've got lots of boats, theres boat racing, there's the new and the old.

So we've got vintage boats.

We've got the new hydroplanes.

You know, we got we got a new boat that's pretty quick and it's sponsored by our sponsor, Apollo.

So that's really cool.

It's a sharp looking boat.

And then we have air show.

And luckily for us, you know, this is the A-10s farewell tour, so we've got the, A-10 going to be in town, and we're really excited by that.

So, you know, weve got an air show, weve got food trucks, weve got boat racing.

You know, we got a river.

We got a park.

I don't know that gets any better.

Two parks!

Pasco side or Kennewick side?

2 parks.

Yeah, Pasco and Kennewick, Wade Park and Columbia Park.

So we're really excited about it.

Which side is your favorite?

Oh, if I was buying a ticket, I would probably go to Wade Park.

I really like all the grass in Wade that goes down into the water.

But, you know, because of the way it works and the amount of people and excitement, we have more stuff on the Kennewick side.

So the Kennewick side is really exciting for me.

We got more vendors.

There's more food trucks.

Okay.

We just have a little bit of time left.

So we talked about boat races, the airshow, lots of people, the community coming together.

Talk to me a little bit about these special hydroplane boats.

Again for people who don't know how do they work?

What do they do?

They basically skim across the water.

I mean, the unlimiteds are just, you know, they're being held on the water by a few things and it's like fins almost for most people who wouldn't understand.

But theyre skimming across the top of water 2 or 3 inches above the water.

You know, and up to 164 miles an hour, you know, lap speed anywhere.

So, they can go 200 plus miles an hour on a straight away.

We have one of the bigger tracks.

We have a very fast track.

Because of the way our track is set up, we've got great viewing, and then the wind doesn't affect us as much as some of the other races.

So the water stays fairly calm.

It's the fastest thing on the water.

All right.

Certainly a sight to see.

Well Mark, thank you so much.

The action again is Friday, Saturday, Sunday is when the Columbia Cup is handed out.