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UpRiver RV Resort host of special Blueway event

By Staff | Nov 9, 2010

North Fort Myers UpRiver RV Resort again was the spot for a speaker’s series and everything kayak last weekend as part of the 2010 Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival.

Nancy Kilmartin, Senior Program Specialist at Manatee Park, was a key organizer for the event.

“This is the third year for the UpRiver event,” Kilmartin said. “In celebration of the Blueway festival this free speaker series was offered to the public. The festival had more to offer than on water activities. For example, there was a guided tour through ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) which is directly across the street from UpRiver, and a ranger-led guided walking tour through Caloosahatchee Creeks Preserve, which is right next to UpRiver Campground.”

Activities such as these are offered as an educational opportunity to encourage the public to become more familiar with the variety of outdoor opportunities Lee County has to offer, she said.

“We also partnered with local businesses such as Paddlecreek Outfitters, Calusa Blueways Outfitters and also GAEA Guides of Fort Myers,” she said.

Ranger Mickey Miller led the guided tour.

The 2010 Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival once again served to highlight the eco- and kayaking opportunities throughout Lee County, bringing out-of-towners in to mix with locals on the pristine waterways, said Betsy Clayton, waterways coordinator for Lee County Parks & Recreation and festival coordinator. She met people from Utah and Connecticut as well as those from around Florida.

About the UpRiver event, she said, North Fort Myers harbors so many treasures, from Conservation 20/20 preserves to ECHO’s guided trip to the manatees frolicking on the river that you can kayak right by. The Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival event at UpRiver RV Resort gave locals and seasonal residents a chance to discover or rediscover the wild side of North Fort Myers.

Carol Alberts is the office manager for UpRiver.

“This is our third year of hosting the event, and since we are on the Blueway, it goes hand in hand,” she said.

Bill Hooth from ECHO heads the speaker’s bureau for the organization, which offered tours of that facility.

“We’re here to present ECHO to the community, to get people involved in what we do, and show them what we do,” he said.

Attendees included Regis Good, who is a member of the Southwest Florida Paddling Club.

“Our club paddles from North Fort Myers to the Keys,” he said. “The Blueway is a fabulous thing.”

Local paddlers were invited to join enthusiasts from around the country in Lee County waters Oct. 29 through Nov. 7 during the fifth-annual Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival, the nation s premier canoeing and kayaking destination.

The festival’s two weekends, coordinated by Lee County Parks & Recreation, offered hands-on nature experiences along with kayaking and canoeing, speakers and instruction, eco-activities for children and adults, races, a fishing tournament, geocaching, green events and paddlers get-togethers.

The Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail is a 190-mile marked-and-meandering saltwater trail on Southwest Florida’s coast.