Canoe presentation Sept. 22
Camp Sweyolakan Alumni are offering a community dinner and presentation on the art of wood and canvas canoe restoration on Thursday, Sept. 22 from 4:30-8 p.m. at the Camp Sweyolakan lodge featuring Jeanne Bourquin, wood and canvas canoe craftsman and restoration expert.
Bourquin will offer the history of the wood and canvas canoe, tips on restoration, and maintenance techniques. Bourquin is working with a group of local volunteers, teaching restoration and maintenance techniques on the 22 canoe fleet owned by the camp.
The fleet consists of seven war canoes and 12 small canoes, the majority of which are wood and canvas construction. The earliest camp canoes date back to 1924.
Visitors will meet at the Camp Sweyolakan landing. Boats to camp will leave at 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. Visitors will have an opportunity to view the canoes, dinner with lecture to follow. Dinner will be at 6 p.m. with lecture following.
Suggested donation for the evening will be $30 which will include dinner, and a $15 tax-deductable donation, which will be used toward the Canoe Maintenance Fund.
Register at www.campfireinc.org or by calling (509) 747-6191, extension 19.
Camp Sweyolakan is a nonprofit summer camp about 15 minutes from Coeur d'Alene. Sweyolakan is owned and operated by Camp Fire USA Inland Northwest Council which provides youth leadership training through clubs, camps and special programs throughout Eastern Washington and North Idaho.