The Alexander City Outlook

20,000 strong

Russell Marine and Russell Lands on Lake Martin announced that approximately 2,000 boats and 20,000 concertgoers converged on Kowaliga Bay for the one-day boating bash known as AquaPalooza.

“We are very happy,” said Dave Commander, president of Russell Marine. “They showed up. We’ve heard nothing but good comments about it and we plan on doing it again next year.”

John Anderson was the headliner for the lakeside music festival that was opened to fans on land and water. In addition to Anderson, Saturday’s event also featured Brantley Gilbert, whose sophomore album “Highway to Heaven” reached number one on Billboard’s Heatseeker chart this spring. The country and southern rock band Trotline opened the show.

Commander said plans are in the works for a name act at next year’s show. He added that a date for that show would be announced in the near future.

“We are blessed to have such a beautiful place to host an event that is this big, this much fun and can attract such a great crowd,” Commander said. “With all these ingredients, we plan for the 2011 AquaPalooza to be even better.”

Commander said the exposure given to Lake Martin through AquaPalooza is good for the community.

Russell Marine, Sea Ray ambassador-level dealer, is a division of Russell Lands and has four Lake Martin locations.