Canoe gridlock will hit the famed Peterborough Lift Lock next month.
It's part of an idea being "floated" by
enthusiasts of the Canadian icon for a National Canoe Day they're
planning to hold on June 26.
"We'll be trying to jam the lift lock
with as many canoes as we can," said James Raffan, executive director
of the Canadian Canoe Museum.
The dual-lift locks on the Otonabee
River along the Trent-Severn Waterway are the world's highest hydraulic
boat lifts, rising 19.8 metres (65 feet).
And, you don't have to paddle your canoe
all by yourself. Fill it up with paddling enthusiasts and share the
workload.
The event is among many cross-country
happenings over 11 days in Celebrate Canada!, which leads up to Canada
Day on Parliament Hill.
This all began last June when the museum
hosted a party at the locks to celebrate the canoe being voted one of
Canada's seven wonders in a CBC Radio-TV poll.
The other wonders are the igloo, Niagara
Falls, Old Quebec City, Pier 21 (the historic immigration port in
Halifax), prairie skies and the Rocky Mountains.
About 50 canoes filled the locks, with
about 150 people at the celebration -- numbers that are expected to
increase this year, said Anthony Berardi, museum marketing
co-ordinator.
People from across Canada, as far away
as Inuvik, contacted the museum last June to say they were holding
spontaneous events of their own.
This was far too much fun for a one-time affair, so it was decided that it will be a yearly event.
There will be a "declaration or two by
local dignitaries and music, fellowship, cake and lots of other
paddling Canadians with whom to celebrate the canoe as a wonder of
Canada," Raffan said.
If you can't make it to Peter-borough,
"take your canoe to lunch, paddle with a friend, paddle with lots of
friends, sing canoe songs, read canoe stories, fill your canoe with ice
and cold drinks and have a party . . ." he suggests.
Or "make a canoe video, have a paddle
picnic or a canoe-be-que, portage up main street, save gas and paddle
to work, have a canoe-a-thon to raise money for a worthy cause, paddle
to Parliament or your provincial or territorial legislature, whatever
-- just do it in a canoe on National Canoe Day."
The museum wants to hear about other
events by e-mailing
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with "details, plans,
stories, pictures" to be posted on its website.
Also available are stickers declaring: "My Canoe is a Wonder."
Third time soggy is an appropriate title for the Canadian Canoe Museum's third Cardboard Canoe Race on May 31.
You could win the infamous "Most Spectacular Sinking" award and be heading down the river without a paddle or canoe.
"There are so many dumpings, this is always the hardest category to judge," said Dwayne James, an event organizer.
Teams of four or more are given a limited amount of time to build a canoe out of cardboard, plastic and duct tape.
Then they paddle these creations in an open-water race for awards including Best Time and Most Original Design.
The event begins at 1 p.m. at the "Johnson
property" on Little Lake, beside the bridge directly north of
Peterborough's Beavermeade Park.
Meanwhile, the fifth annual Canadian Rivers Day takes place June 8, with events scheduled across the country.
The day is held to "promote public
awareness and wise stewardship of the rich natural, cultural and
recreational values of Canada's rivers," says the Canadian Heritage
Rivers System.
"It is an opportunity for all Canadians
to honour and commemorate the important, sustaining role of rivers in
maintaining healthy ecosystems," adds the national river conservation
program.
A journey of a lifetime is being taken by 160 paddlers in the 2008 David Thompson Brigade from Alberta to Ontario.
The trip, which began yesterday, is a bicentennial commemoration of a journey by geographer David Thompson.
The brigade left Rocky Mountain House,
Alta., and is paddling and portaging over 63 days and 3,600 kilometres
to Old Fort William (Thunder Bay), on the northwest shore of Lake
Superior.
Over 27 years in the late 1700s and
early 1800s, Thompson, a pathfinder, surveyor and map-maker, travelled
107,000 kilometres over an area covering 3.9-million square kilometres.
IF YOU PADDLE
To learn more about the National Canoe Day
and the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough: www.canoemuseum.net;
1-888-34-CANOE.
To enter a team in the Cardboard Canoe Race, contact Dwayne James,
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; (705) 876-3387.
For details about the Canadian Heritage
Rivers System and Canada River Day events: www.chrs.ca; E-mail:
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