Leaders: Emily Linde/Beaver Creek Reserve and Susan Boberg/Pure Water Paddlers
PWP will be assisting Beaver Creek Reserve (
BCR) on their "Celebrate the River" community paddle event - which is one of the many fun activities that will be going on Saturday, July 8 for the 'Family Day' at Phoenix Park. PWP members will be helping community paddlers into kayaks and canoes, provide basic instruction and safety-on-the-river tips. PWP-ers will paddle along on 30 minute paddles from Phoenix Park point to Hobbs. There will most likely be 5 trips taken, depending upon community sign ups at the BCR booth. The PWP and BCR booths will be located down at the River 'point' in Phoenix Park.
Read more at the Downtown Eau Claire Web site
DETAILS FOR PWP:
Please arrive by 1:00pm at the point.
(by 12:30 if you are bringing your own boat).
If you have a PWP t-shirt and hat, either old logo or new logo, please wear! If you have extra PWP clothing please bring too, for those who don't have to borrow for the day. We will bring a few chairs for the PWP booth. It would be good to have some extra chairs so please bring one if you can. BCR will have bottles of water and there will also be a Water-Truck at the park. Jerry and I will also bring a cooler of water. There will be lots of food vendors in the Park, but you may want to bring your own snacks/drinks too. Please No alcoholic beverages/proper water safety :) Parking will be available in the big lots adjacent to Phoenix Park and Jill also suggested the small lot on Madison & Forest Sts.
At 1:00pm we will all meet with BCR staff to assign to paddles, PWP booth duties, etc. If you can not be there for the whole time 1:00pm to 7pm, that's OK, but in that case, please contact me before Saturday with your arrival, departure times.
BCR will have 14 basic river kayaks (some 9' and some 10' long) and 6 two-person aluminum canoes, PFDs and paddles. PWP folks can use the BCR boats and equipment or bring your own.
*Note - if you bring your own kayak, the max length is 12' in order to fit on BCR's shuttle-trailer. Also you must arrive no later than 12:30 in order to drive on Riverfront Terrace to drop off your boat. Riverfront Terrace will be closed to all vehicles from about 1:15 to 8:00pm , so if you need to leave prior to 8pm and bring your own boat you will have a long carry to your vehicle in the parking lots outside the park. So we advise you to use the BCR boats. Most of us will probably want to bring our own PFDs.
River expert, Sean Hartnett from UWEC, will be leading the five 30 minute paddles in his Zodiak motor boat. BCR will sign up community folks for paddles leaving at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 pm. Up to 12 community people can go on each paddle. We will have 2 to 4 PWP members go down the river with each paddle. PWPs will also help in our booth and help get folks fitted with life jackets, paddles, discuss safety , etc. BCR will trailer and Shuttle-van all the paddlers and boats from Hobbs landing back to Phoenix Park after each paddle, and BCR staff will carry the boats from the trailer to the point after each paddle along with PWPs who are able and would like to help with that.
The last paddle leaves the point at 6pm. BCR anticipates that after getting all the canoes/kayas on the trailer at Hobbs and driving back to Phoenix Park, we should all be done about 7pm. We're thinking of Going to Pizza Ranch after We're done for anyone who wants to join us!
Beaver Creek Reserve REALLY appreciates our help and paddling experience and it should be a fun day for all!
Don't hesitate to ask questions through the Forum or to contact me directly at boberg.susan@yahoo.com or cell 715-797-2929.
- Susan