Recreation back on canal
Registration for inaugural Welland Float Fest tops 1,500 as people celebrate nostalgia
Welland’s recreational canal was turned into the worldwide wading centre for inflatable pink flamingoes on Sunday afternoon.
The big, buoyant birds, with black and white eyes and black beaks, were bobbing here, there and everywhere among an armada of anything — and everything — inflatable as Welland Float Fest, the flatwater sport for couch potatoes, debuted in spectacular fashion.
Phill Gladman’s brainchild, spawned only six weeks ago and fashioned after an event in Helsinki, Finland, had a registration of 1,508, despite advertising limited to word-of-mouth and Facebook.
A chance to put the “recreation” back into the recreational canal and let the current do all the work on a lazy, summer afternoon struck a chord on social media.
Dawn Benoit convinced three friends to accompany her on the 1½-hour trip from Woodstock, while Shannon D’Onofrio, Laurie MacDonald and Meagan Roberts, who work together at Dofasco, came from Hamilton “to be part of the fun.”
“There is too much negative stuff in the world. This is something positive,” Roberts said.
Kelly Bashak made the trip from Windsor and, along with 12 family members and friends from Georgetown and Mississauga, all of them clinging to pink flamingoes, treated Eileen Bashak of Fonthill to a belated present for her 84th birthday.
“This is my birthday present, and I really enjoyed it,” said Eileen, hugging the neck of a white swan that she, as the guest of honour, got to use as a floater.
From the Lincoln Street Docks, the starting line for what organizers hope will become an annual event, inflatables of all sizes, their bright colours spanning the spectrum, made for a spectacular sight as people reclaimed the canal.
“This is Welland at its finest — people coming out and having a good time,” said Brad Ulch, owner of Budget Appliances on King Street in Welland.
Ulch, who loaned organizers his truck and trailer for the day for donations of non-perishable food items, was equally impressed by two things he didn’t see.
“I don’t see one kid looking for a Pokémon, and I don’t see kids with computers,” he said.
Reg Johnson of Jordan risked a stay in the doghouse by choosing Float Fest over accompanying his wife to a birthday party for an in-law.
“I was kind of torn between going to the birthday party and pleasing everyone else, or coming here and pleasing myself,” he said. “Some things are worth being in the doghouse for.”
Food trucks and vendors created a carnival-like atmosphere on shore and Canadian Tire was an especially big hit with festivalgoers by bringing along air compressors to make flat flamingoes full again.
About the only dark cloud on what organizer Leanna Villella called a “celebration of nostalgia” were storm clouds and rumbling thunder that forced lifeguards to pull people out of the water out of concerns for their safety.
Who knew Mother Nature wasn’t that into Facebook?
While a forced break that lasted less than an hour produced some grumblings, Kelly Bashak said organizers were right to err on the side of caution, and after the week she’s had she knows a thing or two about the dangers of mixing water with bad weather. She was out sailing when a tornado touched down near La Salle in the Windsor area last week.
“Those clouds look pretty menacing,” she said looking toward Main Street Bridge. “I think pulling people from the water is entirely reasonable.”
Gladman is already looking forward to next year’s Float Fest. He hopes to boost attendance by challenging people to be part of a Guinness World Record for most people floating on a body of water or most inflatables.
Gladman was overjoyed so many people accepted the invitation to enjoy the canal. For him, Sunday represented a night-and-day difference with the last time he floated on the canal.
“I looked at the canal, which was next to empty, and I’m the only one in it,” Gladman said. “This is what I like to see.”