LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — It was a busy week for the Belle of Louisville, which on Wednesday won the annual Great Steamboat Race. It wasn’t all roses getting there, however.
With the steamboat race in the books, the Belle of Louisville turns its focus to what lies ahead — an encouraging future thanks to a vote of confidence and recent funding the historic vessel so desperately needed.
"The unanimous vote, of course, has a lot of symbolic meaning that the Metro Council understands the value of our organization and agency to the community," said Krista Snider, CEO of the Belle of Louisville.
Council agreed to provide more than $710,000 to keep the city-owned Belle on course for the next year following an extremely bumpy 2020.
"COVID knocked all of that off track so fortunately we are able to make budget, stay afloat, quite literally for this fiscal year which ends June 30th," said Snider, who added that the 107-year-old Belle is the most widely traveled excursion boat in history.
That title was almost lost in 1997, when the Belle was sabotaged and sank.
"We weren't able to cruise for a number of months while she was repaired," Snider said, "and in a lot of ways we never fully came back from that."
But despite that and the COVID-19 pandemic, the boat kept going. It spent part of 2020 in dry dock for improvements since the pandemic prevented any leisure trips, anyway.
"We've plateaued in a good way," Snider said. "We're stable but we also know we've got a lot of opportunity to do new things different things."
With the new funding, the Belle is now financially stable — for now. It’s asking for $975,000 for the next fiscal year, a request executives are confident it will get based on its success so far and demand.
New educational programs are just some of the things being planned — something Belle executives are excited to share — often referring to the boat as Louisville’s floating museum.
"More community access, more affordable cruises for people who live here," Snider said. "We have a lot of opportunity to share the stories of the river that makes Louisville what it is."
After a rocky year, the course right now for the Belle is steady. The outlook is bright.
"We really can only go up from here," Snider said. "As cheesy as that sounds, it's true. I think 2021 is going to be a good year."
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