Erie Canal's bicentennial celebrated with boat parade

Story and Photos by Alice Gerard

Senior Contributing Writer

Early in the afternoon of Aug. 16, a parade of boats, led by the Grand Island Fire Co.’s fireboat, left the Buffalo Launch Club, headed down the Niagara River and the Erie Canal, and arrived at the Tonawandas Gateway Harbor Park.

The boat parade was among a number of events held at the Gateway Harbor Park to celebrate the bicentennial of the Erie Canal. Other events included tours of the Long Homestead in the City of Tonawanda, which was built just four years after the opening of the canal in 1829; the Carnegie Art Center Art Spree, an outdoor art festival that was held both Aug. 16-17; musical performances at a stage set up on Sweeney Street in North Tonawanda; and vendors.

Alex Domaradzki, director of North Tonawanda youth, parks, recreation and seniors, talked about the planning process and goals for the event.

“Many moons ago, we had a group of individuals that formed the canal bicentennial committee,” Domaradzki said. “(The group included) people from the history museums, some of the municipal historians, and some city officials. The goal was to commemorate the bicentennial. We know all these communities were going to be doing all of these things over the course of the year. We wanted to make sure we had a point of tying it all together. As we were connecting all these events, we decided it would be really cool to do a boat parade. We started the footwork on that, and we got Jeff Meshulam from the Buffalo Launch Club on board, and Joe and Karen Armenia, who were the judges and who were the ones who kind of spearheaded this whole thing.”

A boat on the parade route.

The Seneca Chief visits Gateway Harbor Park.

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Additional judges for the boat parade were Mayor Austin Tylec of North Tonawanda and Mayor John White of the City of Tonawanda. This reporter also served as an honorary judge.

“We believe the seasons-long festivities to celebrate the Canal’s Bicentennial are very fitting celebrating the great impact the Erie Canal had on the development of Western New York. Without the canal, I can safely say Western New York would look very different today,” Meshulam said.

“Once Jeff took the reins, he took over the boat parade aspect, which included getting the boats and having them launch from the Buffalo Launch Club and make their way down the river into the canal. And then, Jeff and I worked closely together to coordinate all the logistics.”

Even with all of the planning, unforeseen events still occurred. The original plan was to have both the Buffalo Fire Department’s Edward M. Cotter, the oldest working fireboat in the world at 125 years old, and the Buffalo Maritime Center’s The Seneca Chief, to lead the parade. Unfortunately, the Edward M. Cotter had engine difficulties, which could not be resolved before the parade. GIFC offered its fireboat to lead the parade.

“That was a little unfortunate with (the Edward M. Cotter’s) engine going down. It would have been great to have had the Seneca Chief lead the parade like we wanted it to, but you roll with what God gives you under the circumstances. The Seneca Chief still made its way out here,” Domaradzki said.

Despite the glitches, Domaradzki said, “This event was everything we hoped it would be as far as people coming together from both communities. It was a celebration of life on the canal. We have artists. We have vendors. We have music, including authentic canal music. We have games for the kids. It’s bringing a community together to celebrate.”

Meshulam, who participated in the boat parade in the boat “Bite Me” with his wife, Bonnae, said, “We enjoyed interacting with the other boaters especially before the event as we teased each other about how we were decorating, and how we would ‘beat them bad.’ We also very much enjoyed the interaction with all the parade partners: City of Tonawanda, North Tonawanda, the Seneca Chief, Grand Island fireboat, Cotter fireboat and the Buffalo Launch Club.

Meshulam added, “The best part for us was making our way into Gateway Harbor and down to the Railroad Bridge and seeing all the people, especially the families with kids. Everyone was waving and shouting out. It was a great family-friendly event that you don’t see every day.”

Both Domaradzki and Meshulam said they had many people and groups to thank for making the event possible.

Domaradzki offered thanks to “everyone who was on the canal bicentennial committee” for time spent in meetings and for the many hours put into creating this event.

“We hope to be around to celebrate the canal’s 300th year with an even bigger event,” Meshulam said.

The winning boats in the parade were: Kim Campana for best Bills theme, Mark and Gail Hess for best period theme, John and Carol Bruno for best performance, and TNT Tiki Boat for most creative décor.