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Rochester Community Inclusive Rowing

18 June 2017
Categories: Bicentennial, Uncategorized, Western Erie Canal

200 years ago, the State of New York began construction of the Erie Canal and on August 4th, 2017 under the moonlight Rochester Community Inclusive Rowing will row all night, 363 miles – equivalent to the length of the Erie Canal to fund an inclusive rowing center to serve veterans and people with disabilities.

Rochester Community Inclusive Rowing is a charitable 501c3 committed to collaborating across the entire community to stimulate rowing for all and to remove barriers to the water for Veterans and other people with challenges or disabilities.

Take a look at this Video that RCIR has put together in support of their boat house capital campaign

Beginning with the generosity and collaboration of Pittsford Crew and the Pittsford Indoor Rowing Center, RCIR was able to introduce over 15 veterans from Rochester as well as the greater Utica area to sculling from January through April 2016. In July, the visitors from the Mohawk Valley then invited RCIR to an immersion day of sculling with veterans at Camp Sitrin in New Hartford NY. This activity had spawned a $21,000 grant application to expand the number of sculling shells in 2017 thereby enabling RCIR to offer adaptive sculling week days in the Mohawk Valley region. All of this triggered by the largesse of Pittsford Crew and the PIRC.

RCIR began pursing deeper insights as to why sculling is positively impacting Veterans with PTSD and TBI from a neuro/psychological perspective with rehabilitation specialists at Sitrin in New Hartford, NY and Utica College

In addition to serving Veterans with disabilities in 2016 RCIR expanded the populations of rowers to include youth with various autistic challenges as well as our initial youth the with the challenges of cerebral palsy.

to learn more about the row-a-thon and Rochester Community Inclusive Rowing Click Here

 

 

No Fees For Recreational Boating On The Erie Canal For The 2017 Navigational Season

12 June 2017
Categories: Bicentennial, Boat the Erie Canal, Cayuga/Seneca Canals, Champlain Canal, Eastern Erie Canal, Oswego Canal, Uncategorized, Western Erie Canal

No Fees For Recreational Boating On The Erie Canal For The 2017 Navigational Season

The Canal is open and in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the beginning of construction of the Erie Canal, The New York State Canal Corporation has announced that there will be no fees for recreational boaters this season. Now we want to emphasize that the normal fees are quite nominal, ranging from $50 to $100 depending on length of boat for a season’s worth the ability to travel the canal and utilize the systems more than 50 locks dozens of lift bridges and more than 524 miles of navigable waterways.

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Amsterdam Sets Concert Schedule For Riverlink

9 June 2017
Categories: Bicentennial, Eastern Erie Canal, Uncategorized

                                                                                                                                                

We’re excited to announce the 2017 Riverlink Summer Concert Series schedule!

Enjoy Amsterdam’s waterfront this summer….on the water with Down by the River Kayaks, at one of the great Southside restaurants, on the MVGO or at River’s Edge at Riverlink. 

Join us for great music at a great venue!  FREE music at Riverlink Park every Saturday from June 24th to August 26th. Featuring:

Saturday June 24th 7pm

Searson

Saturday, July 1st 7pm

Suitcase Junket

Tuesday July 4th 8pm

“An Erie Canal Bicentennial Celebration”  with Albany Symphony Orchestra

Saturday July 8th 7pm

 I Draw Slow

Saturday July 15th 7pm

Jane Lee Hooker

Saturday July 22nd 7pm

Phoebe Hunt and the Gatherers

Saturday July 29th 7pm

French 75

Saturday August 5th 8pm

Sean Rowe

Saturday August 12th 7pm

Franklin Micare Trio

August 19th 7pm

New Orleans Suspects

August 26th 7pm

Los Hacheros

 See the full details here: http://riverlinkconcerts.com/calendar/

 

 

Blount Small Ship Adventures, Erie Canal Cruise

13 May 2017
Categories: Bicentennial, Boat the Erie Canal, Eastern Erie Canal, Oswego Canal, Uncategorized

Blount Small Ship Adventures can take you to places that no other cruise line can go. This year in celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the construction of the Erie Canal they will be sailing 8 times through the Canal. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience something very special.   

With ports of call including Oswego, Buffalo, Sylvan Beach, Amsterdam and Troy, the opportunity to travel with less than 100 guest on board could best be described as “Cruising on your friends Yacht”  Taking a cruise with Blount Small Ship Adventures will amaze all your senses, from the fine dining, to the casual atmosphere, that one will experience any one of the itineraries’ available on Blount will not disappoint!

The Great American Waterways Cruise and the Lock’s Legends & Canals of the Northeast are the two cruises that Blount is offering in 2017 that include ports within the Erie Canal Corridor. 

For all the information on experiencing a Blount Small Ship Adventure Cruise visit their web site

Blount Small Ship Adventures is a supporter of the NYS Canal System and an ongoing member of Canal NY. The only private sector organization dedicated to the promotion of the Canal System and the businesses within the Canal Corridor.

Canal Clean Sweep Lyons NY

7 May 2017
Categories: Bicentennial, Uncategorized, Western Erie Canal

Each year prior to the opening of the Erie Canal for the Navigation Season communities around the Canal Corridor celebrate the canal by planning a weekend of events that focus on the cleaning up or improving the areas around the Canal.

2017 begins the celebration of the 200th year of the canal and with the Navigation Season here Lyon’s is ready to welcome visitors to their community.

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What’s New At Canal NY

11 April 2017
Categories: Uncategorized

What’s New at Canal NY

We may have been quiet, but not due to a lack of activity! Over the past year, Canal NY has been working hard on the development of the www.discovertheeriecanal.com web site. Built to be the “Tourism Site of The Erie Canal” The site will differ from any other online presence regarding the Erie Canal. This site is built upon the idea that what makes the Erie Canal so great are the more than 200 communities that make up the canal corridor. Each community will have the ability to promote itself within the umbrella of the overall site.

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Women’s Rights National Historical Park

29 March 2017
Categories: Cayuga/Seneca Canals, History, Uncategorized

Women’s Rights National Historical Park

Located at 136 Fall St. Seneca Falls the Women’s Rights National Historical Park consists of four major historical properties including the Wesleyan Methodist Church which was the site of the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights convention. The Elizabeth Cady Stanton House, the M’Clintonk House and the Richard Hunt House are also on display. The park includes a visitor center and an education and cultural center housing the Suffrage Press Print shop.

The Women’s Rights National Historical Park was created by Congress in 1980 to preserve and interpret the nationally significant historical and cultural sites and structures associated with the struggle for equal rights for women.

The first Women’s Rights Convention was held over two days in July 1848. More than 300 women and men attended the convention which marked the beginning of the organized women’s rights movement. The Declaration of Sentiments adopted during the convention and signed by 100 attendees provide the agenda for subsequent women’s rights activities. It begins with

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature’s god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course.  Read More

 

Wineries Accessible By Water on the Erie Canal

18 March 2017
Categories: Boat the Erie Canal, Cayuga/Seneca Canals, Uncategorized

Erie Canal Wineries Accessible By Water

 

The Erie Canal system isn’t just a narrow winding waterway that connects Albany to Buffalo. It also connects several finger-lakes to the world as well. The Finger Lakes region is home to some of the world’s best wine and a number of those wineries are accessible by water.   The map below shows those venues that you can boat to.wineries

These wineries are accessible by water on the Cayuga / Seneca Canal

Lake St. Station                                                                        Bellhurst Castle

41 Lake St. Geneva NY                                                            4069 West Lake Rd. Geneva NY

(315) 325-4089                                                                         (315) 781-0201

 

Miles Wine Cellars                                                                  Seneca Harbor Wine Center

168 Randall Crossing Rd. Himrod NY                                2 N. Franklin St. Watkins Glen NY

(315) 243-7742                                                                         (607) 535-4867

 

Varick Winery                                                                          Lake Shore Winery

5102 State Route 89 Romulus NY                                       5132 State Route 89 Romulus NY

(315) 549-8797                                                                        (315) 549-7095

 

Knapp Winery                                                                         Goose Watch

2770 County Rd. 128 Romulus NY                                     5480 State Route 89 Romulus NY

(800) 869-9271                                                                      (315) 549-2599

 

Buttonwood Grove Winery                                                 Cayuga Ridge Winery

5986 State Route 89 Romulus                                           6800 State Route 89 Ovid NY

(607) 869-9760                                                                     (800) 598-wine

 

Thirsty Owl                                                                            Sheldrake Point

6861 State Route 89 Ovid NY                                            7448 County Road 153 Ovid NY

(866) 869-5805                                                                    (607) 532-9401

 

Bet The Farm Winery & Market                                         Long Point Winery

381 Main St. Aurora NY                                                       1485 Lake Rd. Aurora

(315) 294-5643                                                                       (315) 364-6990

 

 

 

Don’t own a boat? Not a problem hire Water To Wine Tours, operating on Cayuga Lake they offer a number of opportunities to get out on the water and be able to visit wineries located on the shores of Cayuga Lake.

Fake News & The Erie Canal!

18 February 2017
Categories: Uncategorized

Newsday had recently published an article that stated the Erie Canal’s Future uncertain. Fact or fake news?

I am here to tell you the Erie Canal System is alive and well. 2017 starts an 8-year celebration of the bicentennial of the building of the Canal. The Erie Canal was recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Governor Cuomo has just placed the NYS Canal Corporation, the state agency responsible for the maintenance and operation of the Canal System under the control of the New York Power Authority. The power authority generates their revenue through electrical power generation and power transmission. There are currently three hydroelectric plants on the Erie with another 27 that could once again begin to contribute electric to the grid. The NYS Canal System uses no tax payer dollars for its operation. That’s correct. The operation of the Erie Canal without doubt the greatest recreational resource in NYS requires no tax payer resources. To further dispel any further rumors, the NYS Canal System is protected under article 15 in the NYS constitution. No one’s filling in the ditch!!

Whether you’re a boater, a biker or a fan of road trips The Erie Canal Corridor has it all. There are 524 miles of navigable water ways. The Canalway trail spans from Buffalo to Albany and is the home of the 8-day bicycle trip across the state that is held each July sponsored by Parks and Trails NY.   Did you know that if you started a boat trip in Waterford, where the Erie meets the Hudson that the first two miles will lift you over 160’. that is the largest rise of any navigable waterway in the world. Did you know that the 55 locks on the current canal system are all using the same technology that they did 100 years ago.

A trip to the NYS Canal system allows for a trip through history from the opening of the original canal back in 1825 to the communities of today

Organizations such as Canal NY, a nonprofit comprised of businesses and community organizations from throughout the canal corridor who are dedicated to the promotion of the Canal. They have just launched a new web site called www.discovertheeriecanal.com   “the tourism site of the Erie Canal” Which will allow for visitors to the canal system to learn about and plan a trip to the region.

What’s New At Canal NY

23 October 2016
Categories: Uncategorized

On Sept. 27th Canal NY held a media luncheon. This year’s event was held at Pier A, an historic restaurant located in Battery Park City, overlooking NY Harbor. The event was attended by over 30 travel writers and journalists who enjoyed a great meal and presentations by or member sponsors. One of the first known benefits from the event was a live radio interview that I could participate in with Dan Schlosberg the host of Travel Itch radio. Here is the link http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ndbmedia/2016/10/14/travel-itch-radio to hear the show. The marketing committee will be following up with each of the travel writers who attended the event over the next month to coordinate future projects.

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