FARMINGTON – About 60 kayaks and canoes paddled in a flotilla down the Sandy River from Strong to Farmington during the first Sandy River Paddle Fest on Saturday.
It took about two and a half hours to paddle the distance from the Sandy River Bridge at the American Legion Field in Strong to the beach below the Fairbanks Bridge in Farmington, said organizer Gary O’Brien.
“It was excellent, a blast, great weather, great water,” Bob Carlton, of Freeman Township, said enthusiastically as he slid his boat onto the beach. He and his son Jake, 13, had paddled from Strong stopping, as many had, at little beaches or islands along the way. Strapped to the bow of Jake’s bright yellow sit-on-top kayak was a bowling-ball-sized hunk of gray clay he said he’d lopped off one of the islands. He was going to take it home and make something with it.
State Rep. Tom Saviello of Wilton paddled the river in a tandem canoe.
“It’s proof I can paddle on a clean river,” he said with a chuckle as he hopped out of it – a reference, no doubt, to the recent failure of an amendment to water quality legislation demanding more stringent pollution monitoring on the Androscoggin River. Saviello is an environmental manager for International Paper in Jay.
But the day’s focus was on the Sandy River.
O’Brien said he helped the Strong group coordinate the event because, “I just really like the river and think it should be used more,” he said.
He convinced Northern Lights Hearth and Sports in Farmington and the Ski Depot in Jay to bring demo kayaks to the Fairbanks Bridge beach for several hours Saturday so people could try them. Many paddlers didn’t take the trip from Strong but came only to try kayaking for the first time.
Dave Redden, a sales representative for Confluence Water Sports, brought a trailer-load of kayaks to the event. He was thrilled, since this was the first demo day he’s attended in New England since April when it didn’t rained.
“And, it’s 10 degrees warmer,” he said.
Organizers seemed pleased with the event, also sponsored by a paddling newsletter, No Umbrella.
“It was the first annual, next year the second,” event organizer Valerie Tucker said optimistically.
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