Raffle for Steve Cayard Bark Canoe

[Bob Holtzman]

Penobscot Marine Museum is raffling a very fine Wabanaki-style bark canoe built on the grounds of the museum in 2009. The canoe was built by a team of Native American craftsmen under the direction of Steve Cayard, and was a valuable process for teaching this culturally signficant skill to the descendants of its originators, so that they may continue to perpetuate it within their culture. The two-week building process was also one of the most popular demonstrations conducted at the museum last year, and we are raffling the boat in order to raise funds to repeat it this year. More details at http://www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pressreleases.html#canoe

 

[Bob Holtzman]

Peter - You're absolutely right; this raffle is very much about preserving Native American skills heritage within their own culture. Steve Cayard's building team consisted of members of the Passamaquoddy, Micmac, and Penobscot tribes and they all felt passionate about the prospect of becoming conduits for this knowledge.
BTW: the tix are being sold in numeric order and you were indeed #3. We've made good progress since then, but there are still plenty left. Perhaps some of the regional chapters would like to pool resources to buy some tickets?

 

[Rob Stevens]

I have number 3.
I like the odds so far!

 

[Bob Holtzman]

Peter, Rob, Thanks both for participating, and I'm glad the number confusion was clarified so quickly. We had the tickets printed by a reputable ticket printer and I'm sure they're all properly numbered.

 

[Canoez]

Birchbark Canoes : Help Save a Tradition!

Bump!

The Penobscot Marine Museum has been hosting a seminar to help keep the tradition of Birchbark canoe building alive. It is an art form which up until recently was nearly forgotten by the First Peoples of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and the Maliseet. Last summer, the museum hosted one of these seminars and master builder and former WoodenBoat School instructor Steve Cayard led a two-week long class on how to build these traditional boats. The canoe was named a "Boat of the Year" by Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine - and for good reason - here it is:

(Photo by Jeff Sher)

Here's the article about the canoe from Maine Boats Homes & Harbors written by Ben Fuller.

Steve Cayard has been teaching about the subject for quite some time and one of his students and now assistant David Moses Bridges of the Passamaquoddy is featured in a video here. (Thanks, Scot!) Now that Steve has passed these skills along to David, he's been passing them along as well.

To help fund this program, the museum has been working to obtain grants. This year, they are also raffling off the birchbark canoe made in last year's seminar and featured in the article. If you are interested in supporting the Penobscot Marine Museum's efforts to keep these skills alive, please look here.

Please - help keep this tradition alive!

 

[Bob Holtzman]

The raffle winner was drawn August 5, at Penobscot Marine Museum's gala event at Point Lookout Resort, Northport, ME. The winner, I am delighted to report, was Cathy Vorpagel. She and Steve (WCHA Members) will USE the canoe (not hang it above a salad bar), and plan to bring it to canoe events and let OTHERS use it to. Details on the museum's website:http://www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pressreleases.html#winners
By the way... Steve Cayard and a new team of apprentices recently completed a nearly identical boat in a continuation of the same project at the museum. It goes on sale (absolute sale this time, not a raffle) tomorrow at the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors show in Rockland. Contact me or the museum for details.

 

[Fitz]

Lucky

Man, that guy Steve is a lucky guy. First, a nice Gerrish score, then this!

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Pemmican Beef Jerky Contest

Earlier this summer, Denis diligently entered Pemmican's contest on a daily basis-- the top prize was a Rollin Thurlow Morris reproduction. This was a contest you could enter daily for a period of time. Denis didn't win the Morris, but he did win a Coleman 2-mantle lantern, which arrived today. Anybody in WCHA win the Pemmican canoe?

Kathy

 

[Bob Holtzman]

Man, that guy Steve is a lucky guy.

I'd say Steve's luckiest aspect was in his choice of a spouse.