Blazing Paddles Paddlefest was an early birthday gift to the City of Cleveland!

Happy Birthday to the City of Cleveland! July 22nd is the anniversary of the 1796 date when Moses Cleaveland and his boat of Connecticut Land Company surveyors landed at the confluence of the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie, establishing a capital city of the Connecticut Western Reserve. Seven years later, Ohio became our nation's 17th state. In 1832 the Ohio & Erie Canal was completed. The Gilded Age (1870s to the early 1900s) in American history ensued, fueling Cleveland’s rise as a major American city and industrial manufacturing superpower.

It's no accident our Blazing Paddles Paddlefest is held on the weekend closest to this important anniversary. Mark your calendars (Facebook event link) for the 8th annual Blazing Paddles Paddlefest on July 17-18, 2026! We will be an #America250Ohio event for #America250.

Thank you to our vendors, site and hospitality partners, safety armada (led by Argonaut), our take-charge team leads, and our amazing and indefatigable volunteers (click the hyperlink for a super-analogy) who made Saturday’s brilliant day on the Cuyahoga River possible for our guests!

This is an iterative blog post as it will be updated with new images, video, and text (drone video and stills are in process). But images of a large-scale outdoor event are like fish and news - both are best enjoyed when served fresh!

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Blazing Paddles Paddlefest galleries

Drone Ohio Gallery (added 7/23/25)

Share the River Gallery

Jones Drones Cleveland (added 7/23/25)

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Laura McShane Gallery

The support boats of Blazing Paddles Paddlefest 2025

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More on Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s PUP initiative!

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2025 Blazing Paddles Paddlefest same day check-in & Nautica parking instructions

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Blazing Paddles Paddlefest Paddlers, we need your help to ensure a smooth process for check-in and boat drop-off this morning at Nautica Waterfront District!

• Please review the below images to familiarize yourself with the two entrances to the Nautica parking lot

  • one at Main Ave. & Sycamore St. (map link)

  • one at Elm St. & Winslow Ave. (map link)

• To ensure the safety of paddlers and the general public, Blazing Paddles Paddlefest paddlers may not proceed down Main Ave. past the parking lot entrance at Main Ave. & Sycamore St. to the cul-de-sac. Parking lot staff will be on-site to guide you. Please be patient and understanding on this essential aspect of this morning’s Blazing Paddles Paddlefest. Doing so will ensure a fun, safe, and relaxing day for you and your fellow paddlers!

• This morning’s process

  • park your car (parking is $3)

  • walk to the check-in tent at “The Pad”

  • walk to the Great Lakes Watersports put-in to complete their on-line check-in and their waiver. Their waiver completion is an essential step and MUST be completed. Great Lakes Watersports staff will be ready to assist you.

  • visit the Lady Caroline for their Contintal breakfast (a la carte menu).

  • ready your boat/board for your put in

  • transport your boat/board to the paddler staging area on the pad (we will have volunteers available to assist you!)

  • Please do not approach the Great Lakes Watersports put-in until you have EVERYTHING you need to put-in to the Cuyahoga River. This includes your PFD, paddles, hat, sunglasses, water, sunscreen, phone, keys.) Doing this will prevent potential logjams at the river put-in.

  Thank you for making our first year at the Nautica Waterfront District a fun, smooth, and successful one! Have a great paddle on the Cuyahoga River - we’ve been blessed with beautiful weather!

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Progressive Cleveland Boat Show Kicks of our Waterfront Planning for Cleveland’s Summer of 2025!

Is there a better way to kick off a new year of Cleveland waterfront event planning in early winter than 4 days of H2O lifestyle fun at the Progressive Cleveland Boat Show? For us, it’s a definite yes. A challenging year followed by some self-imposed downtime gave way to the kick in the pants the boat show provides us.

Some highlights of our time at Ohio Marine Trades Association’s January 16-19, 2025 show at the IX Center:

• We are ALWAYS grateful for our partnership with Cuyahoga Valley National Park river rovers who provide a wealth of Cuyahoga River Water Trail expertise.

• The paddling center vibe was constantly hopping thanks to Paddlin Center organizer Kelly Rudolph (American Canoe Association Ohio State Director), the Keel-Haulers Canoe Club, and Water Safe Ohio.

• And yes, being located along the flight path of Twiggy, the water skiing squirrel, provided plenty of exposure for our annual Blazing Paddles Paddlefest! It’s hard to compete with a talented squirrel but we smiled when folks stopped in their tracks to watch the beautiful drone footage of Cleveland’s Cuyahoga Riverfront during Blazing Paddles Paddlefest. Save the date for our 7th annual Blazing Paddles Paddlefest - July 19, 2025! Watch the video below!

• While we had Twiggy fans’ ears, we also shared info on how they can learn how to safely enjoy a paddle on the Cuyahoga River by visiting our “Know Before You go on the Cuyahoga River” safety page.

• Hanging out with our friends at the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary who do a wonderful job with their mission:

  • To promote and improve Recreational Boating Safety

  • To provide trained crews and facilities to augment the Coast Guard and enhance safety and security of our ports, waterways, and coastal regions

  • To support Coast Guard operational, administrative, and logistical Requirements
    

Check out the Blazing Paddles Paddlefest drone stoke video that stopped Cleveland Boat Show attendees in their tracks!

When it's 61 degrees and sunny in late December, go out for a bike ride!

On an unseasonably mild late December Sunday we found ourselves with a choice - either settle in for the Browns-Dolphins game or enjoy a late Christmas gift (61 degrees and sunny!) with a bike ride along the river.

As the below gallery attests we chose the latter. Some highlights:

• The Collins at the Riverbend and Silverhills at Thunderbird neighborhood is coming into sharp relief on Carter Rd.

• Work is progressing on the Eagle Ave. lift bridge demolition. The demolition project, estimated to cost $4.2 million, is expected to be completed by May 2025.

• a roll down the Towpath Trail discovered Interlake Steamship Co’s Mark W. Barker delivering a pile of aggregate.

Carrying the Torch - One year as Cuyahoga River AOC's Champion of the River

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This Thursday our “reign” as Cuyahoga River AOC’s champion of the river comes to an end as a new champion will be recognized. We were honored to be recognized last November and we’re proud to have carried the river champion baton from 2023 champion Argonaut and hand it off to 2025 Champion the City of Cuyahoga Falls.

Yesterday’s Bedrock & Cleveland Cavaliers Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center ground-breaking event gave Share the River executive director Jim Ridge a moment to reflect. “It’s wonderful how a natural resource a city turned its back on is now being considered as a place people want to use as its front porch.'“ “Bedrock and the Cavs embrace of a revitalized natural resource like the Cuyahoga River is heartening and it’s sobering to consider some of us may be gone before the 15-20 years it will take to complete the $3.5 billion, 35-acre riverfront development project”.

Bedrock Riverfront Development Promotional Video (click image to play)

2024 proved challenging for Share the River as our original plans to schedule Blazing Paddles Paddlefest in June to avoid conflicting with the July Pan American Masters Games were thwarted when a heat dome descended upon northeast Ohio. The resulting blazing temperatures forced us to postpone our June 22 paddle. We were reminded of the wisdom of Rham Emmanuel’s quote. “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that [is] it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” In the wake of a thinly sourced article many stakeholders and event partners expressed confidence in Share the River’s vision and mission and we eventually charted a course that provided a make-up date for Blazing Paddles Paddlefest on the final weekend of summer. Our loyal paddlers were rewarded with a picture-perfect sunny day.

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That image reminds us of another small win this summer when, ahead of his The City Club of Cleveland State of the Great Lakes Forum, Jeff Opperman, World Wildlife Fund’s Global Freshwater Lead Scientist, reached out to us, asking if we could provide Jeff an image he had seen of Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River. We like Jeff’s taste as Ken Busch’s capture of the 2019 Blazing Paddles Paddlefest preserved a narrative-changing moment of Cleveland’s hard-working river. We smiled when a room full of City Club forum attendees saw Cleveland’s waterfront brand reframed in one image.

We’ve always appreciated the duality of homonyms and the word recreate strikes us. When folks recreate on the Cuyahoga River they also recreate a narrative from the literal ashes of history. National Public Radio’s recent story on the Cuyahoga River’s comeback was a pep-talk for that evolution.

Which brings us to Cuyahoga River AOC’s beach clean-up and BUI removal celebration tomorrow (Thursday, October 17) at the Edgewater Beach House. Established in 1987, Cuyahoga River AOC’s restoration plan and actions are geared toward removal or remediation of Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) that either restrict uses of the waterways and Lake Erie (like not being able to swim at beaches) or present obstacles to healthy fish populations (like dams or lack of habitat) or degrade water quality. Tomorrow, a BUI comes off (Beach Closings / Recreational Contact The ability to safely use the beaches or have intimate contact with the water in the Area of Concern is primarily a matter of the levels of bacteria in the water) leaving four BUIs to be removed).

The actions of Cuyahoga River AOC provide organizations like Share the River the opportunity to promote the social, recreational and economic vibrancy of the comeback Cuyahoga River and we are grateful for their 2024 Champion of the River recognition. 2024 has been a great reminder that Share the River still has more work to do and that great opportunity awaits.

We’re pleased to pass the AOC’s Champion of the River torch to the City of Cuyahoga Falls. We smile at the talk we had at the Cuyahoga Falls Fest back in 2019 with Mayor Don Walters. Our interview has relevance today as Mayor Walters describes the potential removal of the 420-foot-wide, 60-foot-tall Gorge Dam. The removal process is now underway and scheduled to be completed in 2026. Mayor Walters is a tirelessly enthusiastic proponent of the Cuyahoga River’s importance to his community and the revitalized downtown Cuyahoga Falls.

We encourage you to be part of tomorrow’s Cuyahoga River AOC’s beach cleanup, BUI celebration and Champion of the River award. Registration is requested.

Blazing Paddles Paddlefest 2024 recap - images and video

The rescheduled 6th annual Blazing Paddles Paddlefest was blessed with beautiful late summer weather that provided a picture-perfect day for our loyal paddlers. Below are several galleries and videos of WEWS meterorologist Katie McGraw’s live remotes from Merwin’s Wharf.

We loved seeing our kayak livery partner Burning River Adventures team up with Trash Fish CLE and Share the River to further promote river cleanup efforts and encourage community involvement during Blazing Paddles Paddlefest. We love how our paddlers left the river cleaner than it was when they first put-in!

Paddle the River, LLC which operates Burning River Adventures, Cuyahoga Valley Adventures, and Mahoning River Adventures were the only Northeast Ohio Livery awarded the H2Ohio River Livery Program grant to support their river cleanup efforts.

Through their dedicated work with volunteers, Paddle the River, LLC has already removed approximately 1200 pounds of trash and 25 tires from the Cuyahoga and Mahoning Rivers, making a significant contribution to the health and cleanliness of these waterways!

Paddlers, this was a challenging summer for us and we’re keen to get your feedback as we work to continuously improve our event and your experience on Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River. Keep an eye out for a survey link we’ll be sending you shortly!

Mark your calendars for July 18-19, 2025 for the 7th annual Blazing Paddles Paddlefest!

Jones Drones Video

Drone Ohio Gallery

Jones Drones Gallery

House Gallery

Podium Gallery

News 5 Cleveland/WEWS Katie McGraw live remote & interviews

We are super grateful for our sponsors, partner organizations, and volunteers who made Blazing Paddles Paddlefest possible. BPP is a large lift for our small but nimble organization and so many people make the day our paddlers enjoyed happen.