Endless Mountains Heritage Region Executive Director Annette Schultz (above) will present Tunkhannock Mayor Norm Ball and other public officials with ‘2016 River of the Year’ poster and proclamation of June as Pennsylvania Rivers Month. The media event will take place at Tunkhannock’s River Side Park on Tuesday, June 14.
The celebration of the ‘2016 River of the Year’ award continues in the Endless Mountains Heritage Region (EMHR) with the ‘Endless Mountains Heritage Sojourn.’ The five-day kayaking adventure, which paddlers can join for one or more days, will bring an estimated 50 people to Tunkhannock on Tuesday, June 14. Participants will be greeted there by local public officials, who will share their thoughts about the North Branch Susquehanna River and the significance of the River of the Year designation.
EMHR executive director Annette Schultz will facilitate the event and present Tunkhannock Mayor Norm Ball with a framed ‘River of the Year’ poster and citation thanking Tunkhannock for its stewardship of the river and enhancement of related recreational and community activities. The event will take place in Tunkhannock’s River Side Park at the launch site for the next leg of the sojourn.
The Wyoming County Commissioners; Rep. Karen Boback; and representatives from DCNR, the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR), and Tunkhannock’s Riverfront Parks Committee have also been invited to participate.
After a Sunday kick-off event at Camp Lackawanna on Sunday, June 12, sojourners will be launching at Laceyville on June 13 and paddling to Falls, stopping at various river access points along the way and camping along the shoreline. Tunkhannock will offer an opportunity for a lunch stop on Saturday and a brief ceremony at 12:30 pm.
The public is invited to attend and help welcome the sojourners to Tunkhannock.
Registration and program details for the “Endless Mountains Heritage Sojourn” can be found at www.endlessmtnsheritage.org, along with a schedule of public kayaking events throughout the summer and fall.
The 2016 River of the Year program is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR) with funding from the Department of Conservation & Natural Resources (DCNR), along with EMHR and donations from local government and non-profit organizations.
The North Branch Susquehanna River Water Trail is part of the Captain John Smith National Historic Trail of the National Park Service. EMHR manages the water trail from Sayre at the New York state line to Berwick in the south, as well as the Great Bend portion of the Susquehanna River in Susquehanna County.