And what a day it was. I was out of the river ... working. It was my own bright idea though because I thought it would be interesting to cover one of the biggest local events of the year. In the past, tens of thousands of people showed up to float down part of the Sacramento River on Labor Day.

The police launched a crackdown this year because of the large number of law enforcement and public safety officials needed in years past. Additionally the event was becoming such a large party that it was bringing lots of people from outside the area.

I also thought that covering this in blog form could boost and enhance our offerings on Chicoer.com. So I spent all day at the bar of a restaurant by the river.

I'm kinda curious to see how well it's received. There were some interesting comments.

Unfortunately it appears my "The river -- without the crowds" slogan I used on the house ads to promote the blog came true both virtually and in reality. Instead of getting the anticipated 20,000 participants on the river, they just a small fraction of that -- about 665 people.

The blog is Labor Day Live.