The River Rat Society was founded in the 1970’s by a group of friends who got together every summer to float down the shore of the St.Clair River. The groups name came from a sign that hung on an old boat house that read River Rat Club. The group decided to call themselves the River Rat Society.

 

The Port Huron Float Down (as it is known now ) continued to grow in popularity and in number of participants for over a decade. Every summer on the 3rd Sunday in August, people would gather at Light House Park beach to float down the river. Until in 1988 when the United States Coast Guard shut it down citing safety concerns.

 

For 20 years the float down was not allowed to take place, until 2008 when Mr. Mark E. Bills a founding member of the River Rat Society decided to try to bring the float down back .After numerous conversations and meetings with the United States Coast Guard and other state and local law enforcement agencies , the River Rat Society was issued a permit by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to hold the float down once again.

 

So on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, after a long 20 year hiatus , Mark Bills and his group of volunteers headed out to their boats and personal watercraft in preparation for the 1:00 p.m. Launch of the First Annual Reunion of the Port Huron Float Down.

 

 

 

 

A Little History