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Canal boat is making a comeback Friends of the Rivers unveils touring boat to launch by June By Megan Knowles mknowles@kpcmedia.com
After a more than 100-year hiatus, canal boats are returning to Fort Wayne. Friends of the Rivers Inc. announced the launch of a 21st century canal boat on March 24 that will be capable of giving tours along Fort Wayne’s eight miles of downtown rivers. The boat can seat as many as 40 people but can also be arranged for dinner cruises and parties, said Dan Wire, river advocate and the man who came up with the idea for the canal boat. The boat is modeled from a canal boat housed at the Wabash and Erie Canal Museum in Delphi, Wire said. “They were real sticklers to try to recreate this to be as much as a canal boat as possible,” he said. However, unlike its
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early counterparts from the 1800s, this boat will be powered by a 55-horsepower diesel engine and be equipped with stereo and Bluetooth speakers – all hidden away inside the walls of the boat. This boat will also be wheelchair accessible thanks to funding from the AWS Foundation. The $550,000 price tag for the boat was supported through fundraising by the Community Foundation
of Greater Fort Wayne. Board treasurer Jonathan Hancock emphasized the funds were raised “through, not from, the community foundation.” The boat is expected to launch by June 1, with docking for the 2017 season at Headwaters Park West, Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department Executive Director Al Moll said. As riverfront development continues, additional docking loca-
MEGAN KNOWLES
Dan Wire speaks about the canal boat unveiled by Friends of the Rivers Inc. on March 24. Wire, a longtime river advocate, came up with the idea for the boat.
For more information or to vote for the canal boat’s name between April 22-May 10, visit forfw.org. tions will be considered. Fares, routes and hours will be discussed with Fort Wayne Outfitters, which will be operating the boat under a management agreement with Friends of the Rivers, the organization’s President
Irene Walters said. “This first year is really going to be learning by doing. … I’m asking all of you to indulge us in learning,” she said. Those details should be announced at the nonprofit’s next presentation in May, when the name of the canal boat will also be released, Walters said.
Five names have been selected as potential candidates – Sweet Breeze, Johnny Boat, Kekionga, John Brown and Big Chief. The names will be whittled down to three via voting by Allen County schoolchildren. The final three will be See BOAT, Page A15
A taste of Fort Wayne
Tour combines passions of food, history Randy Harter has found a way to bring a favorite travel experience back home. “My wife and I have been on food tours in three other cities while we were on vacation and really enjoyed them,” he said. “We decided, hey, it would be fun to do a Fort Wayne food tour. I think Fort Wayne’s ready, there’s enough going on, there’s a lot of interest in the downtown area. We like to walk, we like to talk about history, and we love eating.” With those passions in mind, Fort Wayne Food Tours was born. Harter started working on the tour in September, recruiting his daughter, Sarah Arnold, to help with social media, marketing and as a backup tour guide. Harter also reached out to area restaurants to gauge
Tickets are $55 for the three-hour tour and are available at fortwaynefoodtours.com. Tickets must be purchased in advance. Tours begin at 3 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Fort Wayne Food Tours’ season runs March through October. interest and Visit Fort Wayne to see if it would be supportive. “(The visitors’ bureau people) were very enthusiastic about it,” Harter said. “They see it as one more thing in their bag of offerings of something interesting that people can do in the downtown core.” The three-hour tour has 11 stops – five for tasting local fare and six for learning local history. The tour starts at Don Hall’s Gas House, due in part to its ample parking and the owners’ enthusiasm for the project. “Ben Hall there was the very first person I talked to, who runs the Gas House, and he was very enthusiastic about it and right
from the get-go said, ‘yes, we want to be involved,’” Harter said. Restaurants picked the items they want to serve on the food tour, presenting dishes they are known for. “Ben Hall at the Gas House told me the most popular meal that they serve is a filet with mashed potatoes and mushrooms,” Harter explained. “That’s how the tour is going to start out, with a tasting of some slices of their cooked filet, some mashed potatoes with some mushrooms on them.” At the Hoppy Gnome, guests will sample huarache, a Mexican flatbread with spare rib and See FOOD, Page A15
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