Canal Day/Fest Boat party UPDATE posted 5-14-12

Chesagansett

Chesagansett

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The Chesapeake City Civic Association cancelled Canal Day this year. That affects the festival on land in the village. The usual boat party at the marina and the basin will go on.

The Chamber of Commerce is thinking of putting together a scaled down version of the land festival, and call it "Canal Fest". The Civic Association owns the name, "Canal Day", so the Chamber has to use the new name.
 
That's a shame, as all the problems seem to occur in the basin - but you knew after the death last year, something was going to change.
 
<<..."That's a shame, as all the problems seem to occur in the basin - but you knew after the death last year, something was going to change."...>>

Oh, man. [:-banghead][:-banghead]
As I just pointed out in the Pending legislation raft-up rules thread, there is a lot of misinformation on the death in Chesapeake City.
alk - You need to read the other thread. There was no death that was directly attributable to the Canal Day event. It was a guy who hit his head on the town dock when he jumped from his boat to tie up. After he hit his head, he fell in the water. This happened just as he arrived. It's unrelated to any drinking or partying at Canal Day. He probably planned to drink and party at canal day, but that did not cause his death. The guy could have just as easily jumped from his boat and hit his head on the way to lunch at a marina.

Secondly, most of the trouble caused at the past Canal Days did not occur in the basin. It was caused by drunks, on land, getting into fights and causing trouble for the town's residents. Phil can tell you about the drunk couple "enjoying themselves" against his vehicle. Many others had used people's yards as public restrooms. And on and on. Those were not boaters in the basin. Most people in the basin never come ashore. And, the boaters on the docks are not as crazy, and usually well behaved.

Third .. There is not any change to the party in the basin or the marina. The part that was cancelled was the festival in the village. It will supposedly be replaced by a smaller land festival called "Canal Fest".

Again, there is NO CHANGE to the boat party. I'm not sure how they could "cancel" that part anyway. It's not an official event.
 
Why did you start this thread if I need to read the other one on the same topic ? {:
 
The other thread was about raft-up legisltion and had a few postings about the misinformtion on the death in Chesapeake City. You mentioned the death, so I pointed you to that thread.

This new thread was meant as notice about the cancellation of the land portion of the Canal Day festival, in case anyone was planning to go that.

Will you be at the Canal Fest this year? We'll be on one of the docks. Stop by for a drink. (Just don't jump off the boat onto the dock :) ).

Glenn
 
quote:
Originally posted by Chesagansett

The other thread was about raft-up legisltion and had a few postings about the misinformtion on the death in Chesapeake City. You mentioned the death, so I pointed you to that thread.

This new thread was meant as notice about the cancellation of the land portion of the Canal Day festival, in case anyone was planning to go that.

Will you be at the Canal Fest this year? We'll be on one of the docks. Stop by for a drink. (Just don't jump off the boat onto the dock :) ).

Glenn

Click to expand...


Glenn, you won a slip?
 
Craig -

Yes, we'll be in a slip at the docks.

Look for "Going Coastal". Stop by, say hi, and have a drink.

You too, Phil ... You're just up the street.
 
That should get interesting and might have DNR and USCG butting heads. DNR can't enforce a law that is a Maryland only law in the Federal Basin.
The USCG has already had to tell DNR to back down when they tried to cite a dinghy in the Federal basin for having no red/green light. USCG only requires white all around for dinghy, and DNR tried to enforce a MD law in Federal water. USCG had to set 'em straught. It'll be interesting.

The party on the dock slips will go on regardless.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Chesagansett

Will you be at the Canal Fest this year? We'll be on one of the docks. Stop by for a drink. (Just don't jump off the boat onto the dock :) ).

Glenn

Click to expand...


haven't decided where we are docking this year. leaning heavily towards a return to the Jersey shore, after six summers on the bay - but having second thoughts and thinking about one more in Maryland.
 
UPDATE:

There will be no 100 boat limit by Maryland's DNR. As I had said earlier, it is not MD water. It is Federal water. DNR can assist in enforcing laws that are common to both jurisdictions, but they can't take a law that only exists in MD and then enforce it in non-MD water. Why the Cecil Whig newspaper did not raise that question from the beginning is beyond me.

As is their right, the USCG will limit the number of boats to what they considered a safe level, as they have done the past several years. The cut-off by the USCG seems to be around 400 boats for the past few years. I'm not sure if they even had to do a cut off last year, as there seemed to be fewer boats.

If the past few years are any indication, anyone who arrives by Saturday morning should have no problem getting in to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Basin along the C&D Canal.
 
Glenn you seem to be on this. I live in town and did not have that info. Is there anything on what is happening on land? I know they were talking about a scaled down version. Not sure if that got off the ground.
 
Maybe, just maybe we'll make it to the land side of the party this year. Too much going on in life right now to make any commitments.
 
Last year they did cut it off although it seemed there was room in the back of the basin for a few more raft ups. I was on my stand up ski trying to re-enter when the aux cg said no. I informed them the ski goes on the back of my yacht which happens to be anchored in the basin. So then they let me back in. Interestingly, last yr in my dingy on APG waters, the APG police told me I needed a flare in my dingy as well as all nav lights!! They only gave me a warning. I told them I'd never put a flare on a dinghy..
 
Phil -

I haven't followed the land part as closely, but from what I've heard, the Civic Association will no longer do "Canal Day", but the Chamber of Commerce will do a scaled-down version called "Canal Fest" near the Pell Gardens. (The Civic Assocaition has rights to the name "Canal Day").

Mike - If you can make it, stop by and say hi and grab a drink. We'll be on the docks ... likely "C" dock, if past placement by the dockmaster is any indication.

Phil -It would be great to see you again, too.

Alk - Are you coming down? Please stop by for a cold one if you do.
Any other ROs are also welcome to stop by for a cold one, as well.

The boat party is still not really a kids event, but the festivities have really calmed down in recent years. It is much more subdued on the docks than out in the basin. It has calmed down from an R-rated event to a PG-13, with an occaisional R-rated "flash." Overall, it has seriously settled down.
 
Glenn,

When is canal day? How do you like Tome's Landing?

Bob
 
Bob - Canal Day / Canal Fest is the last weekend in June. It would be great to see you again. You won't get a spot on the dock, as that weekend is very popular. In fact, the dock slips were awarded in a lottery back in January. You can go in the basin with your boat, or feel free to visit by land, and come see us on the dock. Like most boats on the dock, we have a little dock party, and lots of people visit by land. It's a good time. We'll have plenty of cold beverages on hand.

If you take your boat to the basin, be prepared to get in water gun wars with that nasty basin water. Lots of people with really nice boats won't take them to the basin. I don't blame them.

For the land side dock party, the main day is Saturday the 30th. Friday evening is also good, and they will have a great band named "Kristen and the Noise" on Friday night. Saturday night actually shuts down earlier than Frday night, and is not as fun.
When friends of ours come to this event, we tell them that if they come for one night and one day, the best time is Frday night and Saturday during the day. Last year, several of them stayed at the Hampton Inn in Elkton, MD on Fri and Sat nights and took taxis over to the dock party.

Hope you guys can make it.
 
Glenn,
Is the Inn still charging a heavy cover that weekend for visitors to the dock that don't have a boat berthed there? I seem to remember it was something like $20.
 
Mike - It used to be $20, and they gave you a T-shirt. They lowered it to $10 for the past couple years, and no T-shirt. The music bands are usually pretty good, and worth the $10. "Kristen and the Noise" on Fri night is very good. They play from Bostom to VA, including at the Borgata in AC, and the Dewey Beach venues in the height of tourust season, so they're no garage band. Genuinely talented.

After getting into the Ches Inn, you will still need special dock wristbands to get on the docks on Saturday (possibly Friday, too). The people in slips get plenty of guest dock wristbands to give to guests. This is to prevent any 'ol hoodlems from cruising the docks, and crashing the dock parties. It is also to prevent the docks from sinking as it did several years ago from too much weight! If you think you'll make it, let me know. I'll pm my cell number, and you can call when you get to the Inn. I'll meet you on the land side of the dock to give you wrist bands. The dock pass wristbands don't get you on the Inn's property. You still have to pay the $!0 to get in the gate. The dock pass wristbands let you on the dock and join the private dock parties after you're already on the property. So, you'll end up wearing 2 wrist bands,... a general admission wristband, and a dock pass wristband. If anyone else is going to come to the dock parties, let me know, so I can pm you my cell.

Yeah, the Chesapeake Inn has been controlling the event and the dock crowd much more the past few years. It was too much mayhem 5 or 6 years ago.
 
bobh wrote:

<<>..."How do you like Tome's Landing?"...>>

Oops. I forgot to address this. Tome's Landing Marina is nice. Nice people. Good service. Well-run operation. It's a high and dry "boatel" facility. In non-rush hour, it's a little over 1.5 hours from where we live.
 
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