We're changing things up a bit this year with the Picnic in the Park. Rather than spring or fall, we're going with late summer, Sunday, August 18 to be precise. It will be more like a welcome to the neighborhood for all the people who move to the area before the school year starts. And rather than having it by the river bridge, this time it will take place by 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.
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 the Bucknell University Community Engagement Fund, the Community Learning Space, and the Sea Tow Foundation. The improvements include the establishment of no mow areas in the park for conservation and native tree plantings. In addition the park is getting a welcome sign and some educational signs about conservation practices. Plus at the Picnic we will also be intro-ing a public picnic table and a boat rack with some canoes and kayaks on it as well as loaner PFDs (personal flotation 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. For the full rundown, check out the Public Paddle post.
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.
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 (both informational and educational) should prove more inviting than the past incarnations of the site.
