Tonawanda News - CANAL FEST: Festival ready to launch with old, new events

Tonawanda News - CANAL FEST: Festival ready to launch with old, new events.

Canal Fest, now in its 27th year, will host the return of a few events not included last year along with some brand new twists with opening day scheduled for Sunday, July 19. Here are a few of the highlights: Returning will be the motorcycle bike cruise set to rumble down Webster Street on Friday July 24 from 6 to 10 p.m., likely a boon to the dense number of bars in the area, owners of which complained of lost revenue due to the event’s cancellation last year. The spectacle had fallen apart because of lack of sponsorship. “It’s like the car cruise except it’s for bikes,” Larry Denef, President of Canal Fest Inc., said. “The Air Force is the major sponsor and you will see that reflected in the (logo) and on the shirt pins.” Also making a return is a street chalk art contest, back after roughly six years and kicks off the festival on opening day, Sunday July 19. Contestants’ artwork will reflect the theme of this year’s event: Mother Goose. The contest, weather permitting, is open to teams of three comprised of students entering grades 6 through 12 as well as 2009 High School Graduates from throughout Western New York. Contestants must enter in advance, with the deadline extended through July 10. The festival’s scores of other contests, some of which require advance entry, can be found along with a master schedule of events at www.canalfest.org. The site has been updated with a “frequently asked questions” page to address topics such as parking and what’s required for participation in the many events. Denef said there’s a new option to pay for ride fares. Up to 50 percent of the cost of ride tickets, he said, can be saved by ordering online. For example, one feature offers 12 ride tickets for $20. It can’t be combined with the usual $20 one-rate ride coupon traditionally allowing for unlimited rides on Wednesday from 1 to 5 p.m., then from 6 to 10 p.m., and on Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. Ordering online, however, will reduce the price of the discount coupon to $15, Denef said. The famed ducky derby held under the Renaissance Bridge will also take place once again since its return to the schedule last year. Among the new events, Denef said, is a longer, closer fireworks display launched from the Renaissance Bridge on the final day, rather than from Tonawanda Island. “This is something that I had for the New Year’s celebration last year,” he said. “We doubled the amount of fireworks for Canal Fest ... It will be kind of unbelievable.” That translates into about a 20-minute show, he said, to be engineered by the Rochester company Young’s Explosives. The catch is that all boats will be ordered out of the canal/park zone at 7 p.m. on Sunday the 26th, Denef said, and must wait until after the show to return. The fireworks themselves will be limited in their ascent — to around 75 to 100 feet due to proximity to the festival grounds but will be “non-stop and continuous,” he said. Leading up to the pyrotechnic finale will be a musical performance by Lance Diamond. “They will play right up to the start of the fireworks, right on Sweeney Street,” Denef said. The Coast Guard had some concerns about clearing the canal to accommodate the fireworks’ new format, but he said those concerns were addressed and both Twin Cities are working closely with fire and police to enforce the temporary evacuation. The new location is in lieu of Tonawanda Island, which had been suggested as a launching site after the state Department of Environmental Conservation forbade fireworks displays near the nesting grounds of the common tern, a bird species that lives along the banks of the Niagara River. In the past, fireworks had been launched from a floating platform in the river. Renaissance Bridge skirts the 2,500-foot “no-fireworks” radius surrounding nesting locations, amazingly, by moving the show even closer than ever but using smaller fireworks to adjust the perspective. For the first time, Denef said there will be collection points for canned goods set up at information tents on both sides of the canal. As well, The American Red Cross will park a mobile blood donation truck near the Tonawanda Towers in the City of Tonawanda. Overall, the events are planned to begin July 19 and wrap up with a fireworks display and musical performance July 26. As usual, the week-long festival will be bookended on either side by the annual Canal Fest pageant July 18 and a sprawling arts and crafts fair closing traffic on both sides of the canal on the final weekend. As usual, other popular events like the annual parade along Webster Street is set for July 21; the Tim Frank Memorial four-mile run will begin near the Elk’s lodge on Main Street July 23 and the ever-popular car cruise gets underway July 22. And of course, there will be beer, sold at the usual waterfront tent under the bridge near the corner of Main and Sweeney streets in North Tonawanda, with a clear view of the canal, passing boats and the towering rides set up on the City of Tonawanda side.