Straw Pole: Mini-Assembly in Clayton, NY, 2006

Dan Miller

cranky canoeist
Staff member
Straw Pole: Rendezvous in Clayton, NY, 2006

I have been in contact with the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY about the possibility of holding a WCHA Rendezvous there in 2006. I would like to get a feel for how many folks might be interested in attending. Nothing is cast in stone yet, not even dates, but tentative ideas are as follows:

* tentative date, Labor Day Weekend, 2006

* Coincides with temporary (2 season) exhibition on Rushton canoes

* paddling on the St. Lawrence if conditions are right. There is also paddling up French Creek, right off the Museum grounds, if the water levels cooperate. Other paddling opportunities will be investigated before hand.

* Canoe sailing on historic waters(should be able to have at least one decked 16x30 sailing canoe available). There will be access to the museum's livery, including St. Lawrence River skiffs, a repro Rushton catboat and more. Sail on the same water the first ACA members did...

* possible tours of the river on the Museum's fleet of antique power boats

*possible camping on Grindstone Island

*use of the museum grounds for displaying canoes, demos, lectures, etc. Also access to their collection of canoes and other boats.

* one or two catered dinners in the musuem's riverfront pavilion

* There are reasonably priced hotels and restaurants within walking distance of the museum, also a campground in walking distance.

*Happy Hour on the River. 'Nuff said.

*other ideas?

Comments or questions - post them here or email me directly.

Cheers,
Dan
 
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More Possibilities

Some more possibilities for the 2006 Clayton Rendezvous include:

* A Pre-Rendezvous canoe building workshop where we'll build a small fleet of decked sailing canoes: see http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?p=3706#post3706 for more info on this project.

* Canoe Identification Workshop, where we invite local folks to bring in their canoes for aid in identification, restoration advice, etc. Given the location of the meet, we could get some interesting things showing up.
 
Dan, this is a great idea, and a perfect location. In the late 90's I attended a St. Lawrence skiff ( guide boat ) building class offered there, great fellowship and we donated the boat to the museum for there new skiff livery. The folks at the museum were very nice and the curator(?) Rebecca Hopfinger made arrangements for us to visit one of numerous storage barns to view the many and various wooden hulls-stored in racks to the ceiling. Really a treat. Labor Day sounds great. ;)
 
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