The fireworks of July 4 may fade into the night sky over Lake Travis, but AquaPalooza organizers want revelers to keep the party going all week long.

Sail & Ski Center and Sea Ray Boats recently announced that the date of AquaPalooza 2010 Signature Event on Lake Travis has changed to July 10 and are billing July 4-10 as AquaPalooza Week culminating in an on-the-water concert by an unannounced A-list act.
The move was made to accommodate the schedule of a major musical act, which will be announced in the near future, and to generate enthusiasm for a week of activities bookended by the Fourth of July weekend and the Signature Event.
“AquaPalooza has become synonymous with great music, thanks to the past involvement of artists like Taylor Swift, Alan Jackson, Soul Asylum, Everclear and Cracker,” said Rob Noyes, vice president of marketing for Sea Ray. “By shifting the date of our Signature Event forward three weeks, we move closer to signing another big-name performer for 2010. Hopefully, we’ll be revealing the big news in a few more weeks.”
This year’s Signature Event will run from noon-7:30 p.m. at The Reserve at Lake Travis, a new waterfront resort between Briarcliff and Point Venture.
“We’re proud to have been chosen to host the 2010 Signature Event, the largest and most exciting of all annual AquaPalooza celebrations. It’s a great opportunity to show the world what Lake Travis has to offer,” said Buzz Watkins, co-owner of Sail & Ski, which has locations in Lakeway, Austin and San Antonio.
It will be a free event where “your boat is your ticket,” Watkins said. “[But] There is no land access to the event.”
Sail & Ski has partnered with the Lake Travis, Lake LBJ-Marble Falls, Cedar Park and Lago Vista chambers of commerce to offer $40 wristbands sold online that are valid for other licensed AquaPalooza Week events, cover charges and discounts at restaurants, spas, stores, hotels, marinas and other participating locations.
They are modeling the event after the Austin Aqua Festival, a 10-day concert series that ran from 1962-1998 on Lady Bird Lake [then Town Lake].
“All these chambers are on a mission to organize their restaurants, their bars, their hotels to get licensed” as event partners for a fee that they collect, Watkins said. “They have taken off and run with that.”
Watkins said he hopes AquaPalooza will jumpstart the boating industry in the Highland Lakes area and boost business for Lake Travis businesses in a depressed economy.
“This is a shot in the arm and the excitement and the energy that we all need,” he said Friday.
Organizers say AquaPalooza fever is spreading almost as wide as cedar fever in these parts.
“The word has gotten out in a way we could have never imagined,” Watkins said.
For those who can’t make it to Lake Travis, Sea Ray dealerships around the world will transform more than 100 additional locations into official AquaPalooza event sites, making it easy for boaters to both get to, and to enjoy the family fun. Most of the events will take place during the last two weekends in July.
In 2009, the fourth annual AquaPalooza attracted approximately 15,000 boats and 84,000 guests to 123 events from New York to California, and from Austria to Australia. Since its inception in 2006, the multi-location celebration has grown bigger each year.
“It won’t be easy to top the 2009 Signature Event, which featured a concert by country superstar Alan Jackson and national coverage on CMT and GAC, but we think the Lake Travis community, Sail & Ski and Sea Ray are up to the task,” Noyes said. “As always, the event will be open to all boaters, not just Sea Ray owners. AquaPalooza is about sun and fun, great music and togetherness on the water with family and friends.”
For information, visit www.aquapalooza.com.