New activities planned for kayak symposium

With less than a week to go before a two-day kayakers’ symposium kicks off here, Eric and Caren Fagerdahl of Rainy Lake Boatworks have more news to report.
Earlier this week, they received two phone calls from people offering to contribute their own expertise to the family’s second-annual symposium.
The first was from Dale Callaghan, who is a member of the Rainy Lake Conservancy along with his wife. He has offered to speak to kayakers this Sunday, the second day of the symposium, about the history of Goose Island, which the group will be kayaking around.
In particular, Callaghan wants to address the fact the island recently was saved from being subdivided.
“We wanted to get involved because we believe in what they’re doing, and hopefully some of them will believe in what we’re trying to do,” Callaghan said.
“It will contribute to a better lake if more people are using it.”
Callaghan also will be bringing along his neighbour, who is a relative of the man who built the famous Rainy Lake Mermaid. He will join kayakers on their paddle to the rock and recount the “real” legend of the statue.
The second piece of news the Fagerdahls received was from Christian Hollomon, a distributor for German-made Prijon kayaks and the owner of Wildwasser, an outfitter in Thunder Bay.
After hearing about the symposium, Hollomon said he was willing to stage a demonstration of the Prijon kayaks on behalf of Rainy Lake Boatworks for participants and anyone else who is interested.
The demonstration is slated for this Saturday (July 21) at 3 p.m. at Rainy Lake Boatworks. Everyone is invited to attend and try out one of the many kayaks Hollomon is bringing along.
A number of experienced boaters will be on hand to supervise the demonstration.
On Tuesday, Caren Fagerdahl expressed her family’s excitement over the new developments.
“We were really tickled when they phoned,” she said. “Now there’s even more reason for people to come out and take part.”
Fagerdahl added there’s now a waiting list of people wanting to participate in the symposium. “The response has been so good, and these activities are going to generate even more excitement,” she enthused.