By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON – Canton Canoe Weekend and the 52nd Annual Rushton Memorial Races return Friday through Sunday, May 3 to 5 on the Grasse River.

The annual event, a mix of recreational events and amateur and pro-class races for canoes and kayaks on courses short and long, is recognized as one of the premier canoe race weekends in the state.

All races are on the Grasse River, with the start and finish (except Friday) at Taylor Park, on the Miner Street Road about two miles south of Main Street. There is a children’s playground on site.

The Rushton Tour, along the route of the original Rushton races, is a seven-mile paddle from Pyrites to Canton that will start the weekend’s events on Friday.

The registration and start line for the Friday tour are at the bridge over the Grasse River at County Rt. 21, the Hermon-Pyrites Road, at Pyrites. The finish is at Willow Island in downtown Canton.

Registration begins at 3:15 p.m., and paddlers – in kayaks or canoes, solo or not – will start downriver at about 4 p.m. in groups of two to four. The fee is $10, $5 for school age and college paddlers.

Organizers suggest that beginning paddlers avoid this event. An item on the St. Lawrence Valley Paddlers’ web site (slvpaddlers.org) warns that that section of the Grasse is “a moving body of water with rocks, eddy lines, drops and small rapids.”

They also note that if the river is high, the tour will end instead at the Little River, about a mile upstream of Willow Island. At the end of the tour, at Willow Island at 6 p.m., a bench and plaque will be dedicated to Dick Miller’s 50 years of service to the Rushton. For the first 25 years, the race finished on Willow Island and he was often the timer there.

Saturday and Sunday events run the gamut, from the Rushton Recreational Race Saturday morning, to more serious, longer pro and amateur races Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, to the popular Rushton Relay for recreational tandem canoe teams Sunday afternoon.

The races, varying in length from one to 14 miles, offer awards for first, second and third places in many classes of craft, from standard solo and tandem canoe and kayak entries to war canoes.

The entry fees, no more than $10 per event and with discounts for students, military service members, and Paddlers members, help pay for the event t-shirt that everyone receives, event insurance, prizes and incidental expenses.

The namesake of the Rushton Tour is J. Henry Rushton, a boat builder in Canton from 1843 to 1906. His canoe designs were much in demand during a canoeing craze in the U.S. during the period.

Linda Casserly, Canton town historian, notes that not only was Rushton enamored of things that float on the water, but he also was one of the people responsible for getting the village’s water system built, having served on Canton’s water and sewer board in the late 1800s.

The annual campaign to “Fill-A-Canoe” with non-perishable food will again be at Taylor Park Saturday and Sunday, May 4 and 5 and at Willow Island Friday, May 3 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Paddlers and spectators are encouraged to bring items to try to fill the food canoe; it all will be matched by the Feinstein Foundation. Everything that is collected will be donated to the Canton Church and Community Workers food pantry.

For more information, to register, sponsor, or volunteer for the event see www.slvpaddlers.org or contact Chuck Bolesh at 244-3712.