New Lockport Boat Launch addition celebrated
LOCKPORT, PA – Participants in this weekend’s 51st Lock Haven Area Jaycees Labor Day Regatta found a nifty new launch area just downriver from the existing concrete boat launch. Project principals gathered Friday to celebrate the improvements to some 175 feet of Susquehanna River waterfront.
The Woodward Township Supervisors and the project committee took the opportunity to thank project supporters; there were many of them: EQT Corporation, Lehigh Hanson, JTS Construction & Excavating, Cedar Run Environmental Services, Husky Hauling, Coleman’s Landscape, 429 Design, the Lock Haven Area Jaycees and the Delaware Valley Outboard Racing Association, Clinton County Conservation District and PA Fish & Boat Commission, Lock Haven Rotary Club, Brownie’s Signs, and the Clinton County Economic Partnership & Visitors Bureau.
Work involved grading to make a sloped “soft” access to the river below the existing concrete launch. The improvements allow the boats racing in this weekend’s Regatta more access to the river and eliminate what has become crowded conditions at the concrete launch. Kayaks and canoes can also use the new “soft launch” section, and the enhancements also serve to help stabilize that section of riverbank.
Clinton County Tourism Director Julie Brennan emceed the Friday event. She told the assemblage, “This project is a shining example of having the right people involved on a core committee, and then adding the right partners to the mix. And when we highlight how this all shook out, it will be more than evident that everyone involved really cares about Clinton County.”
It was a year ago, she said, at the end of the 50th Labor Day Regatta, that the locals were approached by Dave Briesacher, president of the Delaware Valley Outboard Motorboat Association, the group that runs the local races. She said the organization had some safety concerns and asked for help.
Brennan said there really wasn’t enough room on the existing, concrete launch to handle all of the racers who were heading out onto the water for a race, while at the same time, racers just finishing a race who were trying to get back in off the water. A committee was formed, the new soft launch area created, and a problem solved, the successful effort recognized Friday at the celebration.
