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Saturday's Riverfest introduces residents to the Mahoning
YOUNGSTOWN
Saturday’s fifth annual Riverfest, a free, family-friendly – and this year weather-friendly, event at the B&O Station Banquet Hall along the Mahoning River, gave attendees a chance to get to know more about the river, and even run into old friends.
One of the popular Riverfest activities was canoe/kayak rides on the Mahoning, escorted by Trumbull Canoe Trails members.
Jose Orizal of Youngstown took himself and his family – wife Sarah; daughter Savana, 8; and sons, Jose Jr., 7, and Benjamin, 5, on their first-ever canoe rides.
“It was fun,” said Orizal. And judging by the way his children were bugging him to “go again,” they enjoyed it, too.
Two women who grew up together in Liberty, Haley Wilson of Canfield and Lindsay (Mirkin) Stewart of North Carolina, unexpectedly ran into each other.
Wilson had brought her daughters, Luella, 4, and Sunny, 6 weeks, and Stewart was accompanied by her daughter, Rylan, 18 months.
“It’s wonderful to see a family-friendly event in Youngstown,” said Wilson.
“It’s nice to have an event like this in Youngstown. It didn’t happen when I was living here,” Stewart said.
The primary mission of the Riverfest is to improve the quality of the Mahoning River through restoration, recreation and education, said Patricia Dunbar of Howland, president of the Friends of the Mahoning River, sponsor of the event.
“We are trying to restore the river. It supported the community for decades. Now, it is time to pay back and restore it,” Dunbar said.
“To me, there is nothing like the serenity of being on the river,” she said.
The Mahoning River, the three main tributaries of which are Mosquito Creek, West Branch, and Eagle Creek in Ohio, is roughly divided into two sections.
The “upper elevation” extends roughly from Winona to Leavittsburg and is generally rural in nature. The mainstem “lower elevation” runs from Leavittsburg to the river’s mouth near New Castle, Pa., and is in heavily populated and heavily industrialized areas. The river continues through Newton Falls, Leavittsburg, Warren, Niles, McDonald and Girard in Trumbull County, and then through Youngstown, Campbell, Struthers, Lowellville and Poland in Mahoning County before joining the Shenango River in New Castle, Pa., to become the Beaver River, a tributary of the Ohio River.
The water quality of the Mahoning is progressively getting better, said Greg Orr, a representative of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Dunbar said the first Riverfest was supported solely by the Friends of the Mahoning River, but the event has gained community support and grown over the years.
Sponsors include the Wean Foundation, Vallourec Star, Youngstown City, and Trumbull Canoe Trails, which provides free canoe/kayak rides.
Riverfest also attracts numerous volunteers.
Among them Saturday was Alyssa Armstrong of Canfield, an engineering student at Youngstown State University, who played the part of a pirate handing out candy “treasures” to children who made it to the end of Treasure Trail along the west bank of the river.
Though it is not officially a part of Riverfest, celebration of the Mahoning River continues today with a 4-mile canoe/kayak trip down the river from Niles to Girard, hosted by Trumbull Canoe Trails.
Registration is from 10 to 11 a.m. at East First Street under the state Route 46 bridge, which can be reached by turning at the first traffic light south of downtown Niles.
The public is welcome to participate if they have their own equipment and sign a Trumbull Canoe Trails waiver, said Don Rex of Girard, a member of Trumbull Canoe Trails and Friends of the Mahoning River.
The launch, called the Parade of Canoes, is set for 11 a.m. An optional lunch will be available at 3 p.m. at Girard’s Amen Corner on West Main Street in Girard, Rex said.