In 2007 the canoe was declared one of the Wonders of Canada by a nation-wide poll by CBC.  

The Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough is sponsoring the second annual National Canoe Day in Peterborough, Ontario by inviting as many people as possible in canoes to fill the Peterborough Lift Lock at a Thursday evening party celebrating the Wonder of the Canoe.

Organizations across Canada are encouraged to sponsor an event to celebrate this Wonder of Canada.

To celebrate locally, in Windsor, on Thursday, June 22, starting at 7 p.m. 16 members of the Windsor Essex County Canoe Club will paddle its large 34 foot Montreal Canoe / Voyageur Canoe from Lakeview Marina downstream to Chewitt Park, just west of the Ambassador Bridge. A large Canadian flag will be flying at the stern.  

We hope this will be the beginning of an annual Windsor / Essex County event that is fitting at this time of year celebrating our national Canadian heritage.

For a one-page backgrounder, see   www.nationalcanoeday.net    by the Canadian Canoe Museum.  

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Mountian Equipment Co-op Paddlefest offers paddling clinics, boat demos, and aims to educate individuals about water safety. Even if you don't want to get in a boat there will be on-land clinics, information sessions, and activities throughout the day.

We welcome everyone from novice to expert. Paddlefest is an event for everyone, including recreational paddlers, canoe trippers, dragon boaters, single-blade and double-blade paddlers.

Location

Carburn Park is located in southeast Calgary, on the east bank of the Bow River at 8925 Riverview Drive SE.

Registration

Call our Service Centre at 1.800.663.2667 to register for a clinic. Registration begins June 1, 2008. Cost is $3 per clinic and payment is required when you register. Please tell the Service Centre representative the name and time of the clinic you want to attend. Individuals aged 8-18 are welcome to register, but require a parent's consent.

On the day of the event please arrive 15 minutes early to sign in and pick up a wristband for your session.

For more information visit:

Paddlefest Website

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Just thought I'd let you know that I'm planning to paddle on Fairy Lake in downtown Newmarket over my lunchtime on Thursday.  I'm a Toronto paddler, but work in Newmarket and am trying to get the word out about a lunchtime paddle.  I'll be there from 12:30 to 1:15.  Please feel free to contact me should you want to join in:

Keith Nunn
Email: kapn@kapn.net

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We encourage all paddling enthusiasts in Toronto to come to our event on Toronto Islands. We will set up a tent with information all around canoe, there is going to be a barbeque, canoe race and lots of fun. Paddle with your own canoe or take a ferry to the Centre Island (at the Grand Stand) to join us.

Our aim is to promote National Canoe Day in the Toronto paddling community, wake more interest for this great activity and simply bring people a bit closer to experience their own wonder of canoe.. We would greatly appreciate any volunteer help or other ideas with organization. 

Date: June 26, 2008
Time: 5:30 – 8:30pm
Location: Toronto Central Island (at the Grand Stand)
Contact: Toronto Canoe Tours (647) 448-6985 or eugenia@canoetoronto.com

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Simon Tanner and at least 2,500 other Londoners have good reason to celebrate their first National Canoe Day.

People who love to paddle are finally able to get back into the river after a year off waiting for the Springbank Dam gates to be rebuilt.

“It will be a nice way to start things off,” said Tanner, vice-president of the London Canoe Club. “The water is coming.”

The club, Nova Craft Canoe, and the Philip Aziz Association are calling on paddlers to head to the forks of the Thames June 26 to celebrate National Canoe Day.

“We want to get as many paddlers as we can — 50, 100, more,” said Barry Callow of the Aziz Foundation.

National Canoe Day is a grassroots celebration started last year in Peterborough, home of the Canadian Canoe Museum, in response to a CBC contest that declared the vessel one of the seven wonders of Canada. The date just happened to be the Thursday before Canada Day.

This year other communities are joining the pre-summer holiday weekend party.

The timing is perfect for London paddlers. Just this week, engineers from the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority and the city are testing the dam’s new gates and expect water upstream to be at normal summer levels within days.

Last year, with the dam open for the rebuilding of the gates, water levels upstream were too low for canoeing.

Membership in the London club dropped to 200 families from a peak of 1,000 families, representing about 2,500 people, Tanner said.

“We are pretty certain membership will rise again,” he said. “A lot of people have been calling up and saying ‘When is the dam going to work? We want to paddle.’”

The club usually marks the beginning of the year with a Canada Day evening fireworks paddle.

But June 26 may become the new official start date.

“We want National Canoe Day to grow in London every year,” said Roch Prevost, sales manager at Nova Craft. The company has a limited number of canoes people can sign out for the evening and is offering prizes for the oldest canoe and best decorated.

The stretch from the forks to the canoe club is a beautiful paddle everyone should try, Prevost said.

“It is completely different on the water. It doesn’t seem you are downtown.”

For the latest local coverage, read The London Free Press on the web or in print.

To subscribe to the print edition, click on our subscription page.

Randy Richmond is a Free Press reporter.

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In addition to the celebrations to be held at the historic Peterborough Liftlocks new National Canoe Day Events have been initiated in London Ontario. “We would like to invite everyone to the fork of the Thames at 1 Dundas Street to celebrate with us the wonder that is the canoe”, said Calista Povelofskie of Nova Craft Canoe in London Ontario. “Bring your own canoe, borrow a friends or neighbours or sign-up for a canoe with us. Bring your friends, invite your family, this is going to be a fun evening”. The London event will feature a

contest with a  few prizes to be awarded for the best decorated canoe and the oldest proven canoe. London area businesses have been challenged by Nova Craft to ‘show their colours’ at the event by trying to have the most colourful canoe.  Nova Craft Canoes, the London Canoe Club and the Philip Aziz Foundation are sponsoring the London event and hoping to involve 150 canoes in a grand Thames River flotilla.

Similar celebrations are being planned in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia and even a cross - border at Quetico Provincial Park.

In addition to these civic events a group of 200 paddlers are following the canoe route David Thompson took from Rocky Mountain House to Thunder Bay and plan to celebrate National Canoe Day.  To follow the ‘Thompson Brigade’s’ progress please visit www.2008 thompsonbrigade.com

The Peterborough National Canoe Day event features an open house at the Canadian Canoe Museum. “We want to invite everyone to come and visit the Canoe Museum on June 26th”, said James Raffan Executive Director.  “National Canoe Day is a day designed to celebrate the wonder of the canoe and what better way is there to do that then paying a visit to the Canoe Museum free of charge”.

A sticker has also been created to commemorate the day.  These stickers are available free of charge by submitting a request through www.nationalcanoeday.net.

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On June 26th there will be an event in London to celebrate "National Canoe Day". We would like to invite you to Fanshawe Lake- 1424 Clarke Road (just north of Huron Street) to celebrate with us the wonder that is the canoe. Bring your own canoe, borrow a friends or neighbours or sign-up for a canoe with us (there will be a limited amount available). Bring your friends, invite yrour family, this is going to be a fun evening.  There will be a few prizes awarded for the best decorated canoe, the oldest proven canoe, etc.
 
This is all in the name of the canoe; hope to see you there!!
 
DATE: Thursday, June 26, 2008
TIME: 6-9pm
LOCATION: Fanshawe Lake- 1424 Clarke Road (just north of Huron Street). London, ON
CONTACT: Nova Craft  (519) 455-6252

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The canoe was named a wonder of Canada last spring.  To celebrate that, The Canadian Canoe Museum hosted a party at the Peterborough Lift Lock on the Thursday evening before Canada Day.  When news of this filtered out, various others across the country got into their canoes on that day to join in on the celebration.  This year, we're hoping to keep that canoe-as-wonder momentum going by having another party in Peterborough and encouraging paddlers from coast to coast to coast to join in with canoe-related antics of their own.  The idea is to create a citizen-driven annual celebration called National Canoe Day.  Details are attached.  Hope you'll help spread the word.

DATE: Thursday June 26th, 2008
TIME: 5PM
LOCATION: Peterborough Liftlocks (Lock 21) - Ashburnham Road at Hunter Street

Bring your Canoe!

James Raffan
Executive Director
The Canadian Canoe Museum

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