Saturday September 20th the Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER and staff made the trek to Wrightsville, Pennsylvania to take part in the 7th Annual Dam Bridge Challenge Paddle Races hosted by the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association. The Riverfront Park was loaded with local vendors, food trucks, a stage for live music, and of course information from our local waterways and green spaces experts.
Racers arrived early to compete in the main event: a 10 mile race from the the Veterans Memorial Bridge to the Safe Harbor Dam and back, or to compete in the more causal 3-mile sprint and quarter mile kid’s races. Recreational paddlers took to the water as well to enjoy the cool air and bright sunshine.
Back on land, the park was stocked with vendors selling local goods, distributing information on the state parks, waterways, and Susquehanna Petroglyphs. The US Coast Guard table distributed reflective paddle stickers and safety whistles while Susquehanna Riverkeeper and Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM) had informational displays and exhibits set-up to showcase their water quality testing set-ups.
The Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER table was equipped with maps of our watershed, photos of our landmarks, and of course piles of stickers and our newsletters for distribution. Brady Bayne and Joe Ottomano staffed the table while Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER Theaux Le Gardeur networked with the other Waterkeeper Alliance members, bringing home many ideas for how to improve our efforts in both water quality monitoring and educational outreach. Guests were eager to learn about the Gunpowder’s watershed adjacent to their own and to hear how our advocacy affected the same downstream waters of the Chesapeake Bay as their local Susquehanna.
Lower Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER
To learn more about the efforts of the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Alliance and their upcoming events you can click the link below.
https://www.lowersusquehannariverkeeper.org
