Paddling and portaging events marked National Canoe Day across the country on June 26.
The event is a project of the Canadian Canoe Museum in Ontario and local, passionate canoeist Vinessa Currie-Foster of Clearwater Canoeing took the opportunity to create her own free event at Birch Lake just outside of Maidstone.
Currie-Foster and her staff offered a ride in a voyageur canoe and a shore program about the voyageurs. Paddlers in the canoe learned about the heavy loads and strength of the vessels originally made out of birch bark and sealed with pine pitch.
The weather co-operated for a time, but everyone was glad to be under the new shelter for the program as the rain poured down around them. Young people donned voyageur attire as Currie-Foster explained the reason for each piece of clothing and each accessory. She demonstrated birch bark biting and handed out bits of bark for everyone to attempt the dying art once used to create patterns for beading designs.
Bannock, peas and salt pork were the traditional fare for the voyageurs and guests were invited to sample the simple, hearty, starchy food that kept the paddlers going as they travelled the river highways of Canada so many years ago. A cake to celebrate National Canoe Day was shared and passion for paddling and the past left smiles on the faces of those who came out to try something new.
