One of the things January is known for in Lewisburg at any rate is that it’s the time to prepare for the Lewisburg Ice Festival.  It’s a great winter weekend with events and activities of all sorts.  Everyone can find something up their alley, from ice sculptures, to chocolate festival, from store specials, to a 5K, from a walking tour, to the Polar Bear Plunge.

People in town for one aspect may want to check out some of the activities they don’t normally attend.  The Plunge for example may seem like too much of an extreme thing for many people to want to do but everyone else is invited to come watch.  And if you do wind up your courage, you can still register to participate.  Entry forms are online and also available the day of the event.  The entry fees raise funds for the Lewisburg Downtown Partnership.  In addition, some plungers also collect sponsorships on behalf of other area organizations (including the LNC!).

The Plunge takes place at the St George St Boat Ramp in the small Borough Park recently christened Lewisburg Landing.  If you’re familiar with the site, you may find it looks a little bit different this year.  Along with the new name, there are other changes afoot.  They will be even more evident once spring arrives, but everyone is invited to come down and get a preview during the Plunge.

The park improvements include a suite of modest upgrades made possible by support from the Lindig Lewisburg Foundation Fund through the First Community Foundation of Pennsylvania in combination with in-kind labor from the Borough of Lewisburg and the Lewisburg River Town Team, community donations provided by the Lewisburg Neighborhoods Corporation, and donations from Bucknell University and the Sea Tow Foundation.  The improvements already in place include the establishment of some no mow areas in the park for conservation and native tree plantings.  During the event on the 2nd, the no mow area on the slope adjacent to the boat ramp will be marked off with caution tape and bleachers provided for spectator seating at the top of the slope.  You will also see wooden posts, not yet adorned with a sign by the side of the ramp along Front Street.  This spring, in addition to the signage and landscaping changes, there will also be picnic tables and a boat rack with some canoes and kayaks on it as well as loaner PFDs (personal floatation devices aka life vests).

The canoes and kayaks are being provided by the Lewisburg River Town Team and can be borrowed for quick jaunts on the river.  Anyone wishing to get access to the boats will need to contact the Lewisburg Neighborhoods Corporation office, make a small annual contribution ($15 or two hours of volunteer time), attend a safety briefing, and sign a liability waiver.  The boats are intended mostly for brief out and back outings from the landing.  People borrowing them will need to assume there will be some upstream paddling required.  It is also possible to borrow the boats for longer point-to-point outings, but the borrower will be responsible for getting the boat back to Lewisburg and will have to make arrangements to transport it on the upstream leg.  Anyone wishing to do that should contact the LNC office so we have some idea of the boats' whereabouts. 

The Lewisburg River Town Team works to improve the community’s connection to the river both physically and culturally.  The goal of having the loaner equipment available is to make it easier for residents to access the river.  Even those who own their own boats may find it a bit of a hassle to wrangle them down to the landing for just a short paddle.  Or they may want to bring a friend along but not have an additional boat for them.  This arrangement should lower the bar and make it less of an effort to decide to go out for a paddle before sunset on a weeknight or a misty morning before the rest of your weekend plans kick in.  

We hope people will take advantage of it to poke around just upstream, get familiar with the remains of the historic slackwater dam, the undersides of the Market St and rr river bridges and the various islands near the mouth of Buffalo Creek.  It is often very feasible to paddle upstream in our area, but it will take getting more familiar with the river, which is part of our stated goal.  People should learn to check the river gauge for depth and flow information.  They should also remember rules of thumb about temperature which recommend wearing a wet or dry suit when the combination of the air and water temperatures does not exceed 100 degrees.  There are also tricks to knowing when it’s easier to paddle upstream near shore (during higher water) versus when it may be easier (not easy, mind you!) to go up in the channel (during lower flows).

We would love it if more people started realizing the great exercise to be had from paddling with all the upstream workouts this will enable.

People who have beater boats they would be willing to share in this arrangement to augment the stable of available watercraft should contact the LNC office.  If you supply a loaner boat, you will be exempt from the user fee, though you will still need to participate in the safety training and sign the liability waiver.  If you have a boat you would like to be able to keep closer to the river but you don’t want others to have the combination to access it, you can also rent space on the rack ($15 per month or $45 for the season, May through September).  Proceeds from this and other contributions will go to covering regular annual expenses like boat registrations.

For those not inclined to paddle (or at least not upstream), the Lewisburg River Town Team hopes you will come and enjoy Lewisburg Landing in other ways.  The picnic tables and signage soon to come should prove more inviting than the past incarnations of the site.  There will also be educational signage about our efforts to encourage low and no mow maintenance areas and fight back against invasive species like Japanese Knotweed.  Both of these topics are critical for conservation efforts, and help reduce storm water runoff as well as improving water and habitat quality.  One way or another, it's all about improving things for everyone, broadly defined!