To verify information or if any questions, please contact: Betsy Daley, Executive Director 610-917-0021 [email protected]

For immediate release:

Schuylkill Association Presents the Shad Festival 2010 and the 4th Annual Loop Fest

The first annual Schuylkill River Shad Festival will be held at Lock 60 on the in Mont Clare, PA. Come on down and join us on Sunday, April 18 from 11 AM to 4 PM. Activities for the day are planned to include a five mile canoe and kayak paddle on the Schuylkill River and Canal (the 4th annual Loop Fest), live music, Lock openings, canoe and kayak demos, a fishing competition for the kids, and, of course, food. This is our first year holding the festival and we are starting small but have big plans for the coming years.

The festival will be held in the Lock 60 picnic grove with a schedule that includes a kid’s fishing competition, informational / educational tables and boat demos beginning at 11 AM and continuing throughout the day until 4 PM. Three local musical groups will perform on stage between 12 noon and 3 PM. Participants in the 4th annual Loop Fest, the guided river and canal paddle, will be leaving between 11:30 AM and Noon and expect to arrive back for lunch and to enjoy the music at 2:00 PM. All boaters need to provide their own boat and required safety equipment or contact the Port Providence Paddle at the Fitzwater Station to rent a canoe and/or kayak. The Port Providence Paddle can be contacted at 610-935-2750 or www.canoeandkayak.biz, to reserve your boat.

A little bit of history is being made; the re-establishment of the American Shad into the Schuylkill River watershed has been a long time coming. Fairmount Dam, one of 18 dams built as part of the Schuylkill Navigation system in 1820, prevented the American Shad from getting past the Tidal Schuylkill causing many to return to the ocean to find other areas to spawn. But with the construction of fish ladders or fishways onto four dams and the removal of three dilapidated dams, the American Shad is once again able to ascend the Schuylkill River. This is the first time in approximately 180 years that the American Shad and other migratory fish can swim up river to their original spawning waters. Many people including the Schuylkill Canal Association think this is a big deal, big enough to start an annual festival on the banks of our beautiful Schuylkill River.

The Fish and Boat Commission have stocked approximately 4.5 million juvenile American Shad in the Schuylkill River since 1999. A multi-year study has recently found that approximately 95% of shad collected at the Fairmount Dam have been shown to be from the stocking. This is great news because it tells us that the shad fishery has been redeveloped. While it will probably be a few years before we start to see the shad in significant numbers we want to be ready for them when they arrive.

Come out and join us for a fun day along the Schuylkill Canal and River as we celebrate the return of the American Shad. The rain date is Sunday April 25, 2010, same time and program. For more information, directions or questions, contact SCA at 610-917-0021, [email protected], or visit our website at www.schuylkillcanal.org.