News

It was a hot day on the river, but that didn’t stop paddlers from celebrating National Canoe Day with Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman.

The Saturday paddle was part of a Waterkeepers Carolina initiative to get people on the water across the state.

“The reason this all started was at one of our last Waterkeepers Carolina in-person meetings., we were trying to think of more things to do together as a group, and one of those things was to get out on the water more,” Katey said. “So, we decided that on the week or weekends surrounding National Canoe Day, all the North Carolina Riverkeepers would do a paddle in their prospective rivers.”

Fourteen paddlers joined Katey, Sound Rivers Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz, and interns Tierney Reardon and Eloise MacLean for the four-mile paddle from Town Common to Port Terminal. Katey partnered with Knee Deep Adventures in Greenville to provide kayaks, which came in handy when two people in search of a way to get on the water, stumbled across the Sound Rivers paddle and joined in last minute.

“Partnering with Knee Deep Adventures to supply kayaks was so helpful, and they were so awesome, and we had those two extra boats so they could tag along. Everyone had a really good time,” Katey said.

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