ERIC MOWER Corridor Commission Erie Canalway NHC Fiscal Year 2006 Commission Chairman Officers Chairman Eric Mower, Syracuse Appropriations Erie Canalway Vice Chair Joseph Callahan, Syracuse Letter from the Chairman The Erie Canalway National Heritage National Heritage Corridor Secretary Megan Levine, Niskayuna Corridor Commission receives a Federal Treasurer Peter Welsby, Lockport s we head into 2007, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission and staff Congressional Appropriation. Ex Officio Sandy Walter, National Park Service find ourselves in a very exciting place. After working with many of you on the congressio- Anally mandated Preservation and Management Plan, we passed the last milestone in June of Commissioners Income: 2006 Annual Report this year when the Secretary of the Interior signed off on the Plan. 2006 was the year we were able Russell Andrews, Syracuse Federal Appropriation ...... $650,000 to start making this shared vision a reality. Clinton Brown, Buffalo The Erie Canalway staff worked with National Park Service interpreters and designers to produce Bernadette Castro, Commissioner, NYS Office of Expense: a high quality corridor-wide brochure that explains the significance of the Erie Canalway and its Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation Heritage Development ...... $323,451 unprecedented role in our nation’s history. We also worked with four different communities to design Mayor Victoria Daly, Palmyra Public Outreach ...... $170,032 and install outdoor interpretive signs that tell the story of the Erie Canal. These two projects are Charles Gargano, Chairman, Empire State critical in our efforts to demonstrate how all the canalway communities are connected to each other Development Corporation Interpretation and Education ...... $156,517 and to the larger Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. Thomas Grasso, Rochester Partnerships are key to our current and future success as a Heritage Corridor. Thanks in part to Carol Greenough, Whitehall The Erie Canalway National Heritage our efforts, the Erie Canal Museum received almost $2 million in federal and state funds they will Lynn Herzig, Geneva Corridor also leveraged and matched these use to expand the museum and upgrade their exhibits. Our collaboration with the New York State Christopher Jacobs, Secretary of State, Federal appropriations with $4.3 million in Museum, Canal Corporation and Canal Society continues on the restoration and interpretation of the NYS Department of State non-Federal funds by working with our historic motorship Day Peckinpaugh. We also continued our support of numerous canal-wide events Christopher Lindley, Rochester state and nonprofit partners on numerous including the highly successful New York State Canal Conference. Carmella Mantello, Director, NYS Canal Corporation preservation and recreation projects in the Corridor. In addition to the many accomplishments for 2006 outlined in this Annual Report, the Erie NYS Assemblyman Robert Reilly, Newtonville Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission made some key decisions on several projects Judith Schmidt-Dean, Schuylerville that will take place in the coming year. 2007 will be the first year of an Erie Canalway Pilot Grants Kimberly Seager, Phoenix Program. This program will help to fund projects and programs that serve to advance the goals and Denise Sheehan, Commissioner, NYS Department of Formal Partnerships strategies of the Preservation and Management Plan. Environmental Conservation Robert Shibley, Buffalo Canal Society of New York State In 2006, we took initial steps in forming a fundraising organization to support the Erie Canalway Pieter Smeenk, Fairport Lakes to Locks Passage National Heritage Corridor. The Erie Canalway Heritage Fund, Inc. is a nonprofit organization now Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway Coalition Inc. incorporated in New York State. In the coming year, we will establish the Heritage Fund Board and Stuart Stein, Ithaca Alan Vincent, Little Falls Mohawk Valley Heritage Corridor begin this important work to augment our annual federal appropriation with other funds to benefit New York State Canal Corporation corridor communities. Peter Wiles Jr., Skaneateles New York State Education Department In September 2006, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor entered into a unique partnership Staff New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and with the New York State Canal Corporation and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum to bring Frank Dean, Executive Director Historic Preservation the spectacular canal schooner Lois McClure to the Erie Canalway in 2007. The Lois McClure will Hannah Blake, Community Outreach Coordinator Parks and Trails New York travel 1000 miles in 100 days as she sails from her home port on Lake Champlain to 25 historic Mary Cunningham, Office Manager Western Erie Canal Heritage Corridor Commission ports-of-call along the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. With this unprecedented “Grand Lori Duell, Project Manager Canal Journey” we hope to educate the public through presentations, exhibits, and other materials Duncan Hay, Interpretive Planner about the historic and present significance of the New York State Canal system and its communities. Beth Sciumeca, Program Manager 2007 promises to be an exciting year on the Canalway. We look forward to continuing to work with he Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, working through all of you on many new projects throughout the Corridor. Please join us. a wide range of partnerships, is preserving and interpreting our Sincerely, Tnation’s past, providing world class recreational and educational opportunities, fostering economic revitalization, improving quality of life in Cover photo by Bart M. Carrig Corridor communities, and guiding the reemergence of the Erie Canalway Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor as a 21st-century “River of Commerce and Culture.” Erie Canalway NHC staff from left to right: Beth Sciumeca, Duncan Hay, www.eriecanalway.org | 518-237-7000 Hannah Blake, Frank Dean, Mary Cunningham, Lori Duell Final Approval of Award Winning Preservation New Interpretive Exhibits was facilitated by Elaine Van S. Carmichael of Erie Canal ■ Restoration work continues on the New York and Management Plan Installed Around the Corridor Economic Stewardship, Inc. The session provided Museum Expansion State Museum’s historic motorship Day Peckinpaugh. concise presentations on various tourism-related Erie Canalway worked with NPS Harpers Ferry topics such as cultural and heritage tourism specifics, Center to develop portable interpretive exhibits to be On June 26, 2006, Department of Interior The Secretary’s approval Residents and visitors to Syracuse, Canastota, The Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse received some visitor expectations and the experience, wayfinding, used onboard the boat and we continue to work on Secretary Dirk Kempthorne approved the Erie marked the final milestone Palmyra, and Rome now have a little help visual- good news this year when they secured $1.2 million branding and joint marketing, hospitality training, longer term efforts to design exhibit space in the hull. Canalway National Heritage Corridor in an effort that began when izing the past thanks to new outdoor exhibits in NYS Department of Transportation funding. Erie developed in partnership with the National Park and data collection. Canalway suggested Preservation and Management Plan – a roadmap the U.S. Congress directed the ■ The Erie Canalway Commission decided to Service Harpers Ferry Design Center. the museum apply for the future preservation and revitalization of Erie Canalway Commission Through a series of facilitated sessions, the establish a nonprofit fundraising organization – the corridor. Secretary Kempthorne noted to initiate and implement a for the DOT funds Eleven panels installed last workshop gave participants an opportunity to Erie Canalway Heritage Fund, Inc. The organization “The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Preservation and Management which will allow the summer utilize historic share their perspectives, let Erie Canalway staff is now incorporated in New York State and Erie Commission has made a great contribution to Plan for the Corridor. The museum to purchase photographs, maps, and know if they’re headed in the right direction and Canalway staff will be working with Commissioners the future of the Erie Canalway and upstate Plan garnered high honors from the American an adjacent building documents to illustrate the especially, to tell them what they could do to to obtain IRS tax exempt status and to recruit board New York... I commend you for completing this Planning Association’s New York Upstate and remodel it for connection between the further help the region pursue heritage develop- members in 2007. thorough and well-informed plan, and for broadly Chapter in September of this year, receiving an additional gallery canal-era and contemporary ment opportunities. A workshop summary was engaging the citizens, agencies, and organizations Award for 2006 Outstanding Planning Project Erie Canal Museum in historic Weighlock Building and classroom space. ■ Erie Canalway continued its support for “Cycling surroundings. While made available to all participants. of New York State in its development.” in Comprehensive Planning the Erie Canal”, the eight-day, 400-mile bicycle providing glimpses into the A New York State Canal Corporation grant for for a Regionally Based Plan. tour from Buffalo to Albany that takes place every past, each wayside exhibit $225,000 was also awarded to the museum in year in July. The tour organizer and Erie Canalway shows how the Erie Canal Erie Canalway Photo Contest addition to the $400,000 Federal Highway funds partner, Parks and Trails New York, also updated its shaped, and continues to they received in 2005 with our assistance to Erie Canalway NHC Brochure Erie Canalway held a Photo Contest in 2006 that guidebook to cycling the canal with our support. affect the arrangement, revamp the exhibits in the existing museum. generated a lot of excitement throughout the A major accomplishment in 2006 was the The quality of the writing and graphics in architecture, business, and ■ Erie Canalway is partnering with the Lake Corridor – and in our own office. The contest The museum is housed in a mid 19th century completion and distribution of a comprehensive the brochure meets the highest standards of social life of communities Champlain Maritime Museum in Vermont and the Wayside exhibit in Palmyra, New York attracted professional and amateur photographers building where canal boats were once weighed. It is National Park Service-style brochure covering National Park Service publications and has been that it ran through. New York State Canal Corporation to bring the from around the Corridor. A panel of judges selected the only building of its kind left in the world. The the entire Erie Canalway National Heritage very well received by our partners. We have replica canal schooner Lois McClure to the Erie, The communities played a key role in every phase three winning photographs in each of the four museum is one of Erie Canalway’s primary partners Corridor. The brochure provides maps of the made them available at various locations Champlain, Cayuga-Seneca, and Oswego canals in of this project from providing input on the content contest categories: Nature, Canal Communities, and we look forward to assisting them with exhibit Corridor, information on the historic signi- throughout the corridor. 2007. She’ll travel more than 1,000 miles, and visit for the exhibits, to helping with sign installation, to Along the Canal, and On the Water. planning and design to provide a first rate museum ficance of the Erie Canal, as well as general 25 communities from Lake Champlain to Buffalo Our next objective is to partner with communi- coordinating unveiling ceremonies. We are currently visitor experience in downtown Syracuse. visitor information. Twelve winning over a three month period during the summer ties to develop regional brochures of the working on three exhibit panels to be installed at photographs and and fall of 2007. The brochure follows same quality in similar Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge on the Cayuga- eleven Honorable recognizable National formats. We are currently Seneca Canal and are in the process of designing Also of Note: ■ Erie Canalway was co-sponsor and played a big Mention photos, Park Service design working with Partners more exhibits for installation in 2007. role in this year’s New York State Canal Conference. selected from ■ Since the opening of the Erie Canalway Visitor standards that help Along the Canal Towpath Erie Canalway staff worked on the planning the nearly three Center in Waterford, visitors have come from 27 reinforce the national (PACT) a group of organi- committee, organized sessions, led tours, and helped hundred entries, states, the District of Columbia, and 7 foreign significance of New York’s zations and communities in with local arrangements for this year’s very successful Beyond Marketing Workshop were included in an Erie Canalway National countries. Individuals and families have come to canals and the Heritage central New York to develop meeting that took place September 24-26 in Troy, Heritage Corridor 2007 Calendar. The calendars bike, hike, walk, understand history and to often Corridor’s place within the the first of what we hope Erie Canalway NHC sponsored a one day workshop Waterford, and Cohoes. were distributed free of charge at various locations just “explore”. As a stop along the “Cycle the Erie National Park System. will become a family of more in Geneva on June 14th entitled Beyond Marketing: throughout the Corridor. Canal” event route, the Visitor Center hosted cyclists detailed regional brochures. Tourism Readiness in the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. The workshop drew over 60 on the last leg of their 400 mile trip across the state. Our first ever photo contest was a resounding participants who represented a wide array of com- success and we plan to make it an annual event. munities and professional interests. The workshop Next year’s deadline will be in August 2007.