Spring has arrived and the Welland Canal opened today.

Warm temperatures the rest of this week and let the melting begin onLake Erie.

Check out this Saint Catharines Standard article:


"earliest-ever date for ship route"

"Fanfare on tap for canal opening; Navigation resumes on Welland Canal today, earliest-ever date for ship route

MONIQUE BEECH
Local News - Tuesday, March 20, 2007 @ 09:00

The extra keen boat enthusiasts start dropping by the St. Catharines Museum at Lock 3 at the beginning of March, anxious to learn when the first ship of the season will pass through the Welland Canal.

With the canal opening today - the earliest such date for the lake-connecting waterway - the so-called boat nerds are beside themselves. Last year, the canal opened March 21, also record-setting.

"We have a lot of people, and they're called boat nerds, who come in every day and watch the ships.... Those people really want to know when the (canal will open)," said Marcia Ridley, the museum's hospitality services co-ordinator.

"It may only be a day early, but it's exciting for people to know that this is the earliest that we've ever been open."

The Canadian Coast Guard Ship Griffon continued to break the ice along the 43.4-kilometre canal Monday, after spending the weekend doing the same.

Despite cold temperatures and a sprinkling of snow, the canal is still slated to open this morning as planned, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation spokesman Andrew Bogora said Monday.

Demand from shipping clients is one of the main reasons why the canal is opening earlier this year, Bogora said.

The earlier the better, said Jim Sprunt, who prefers to be called a marine historian and nautical photographer.


For the past 15 years, he's made the trip to Lock 3 to watch the first ship pass through during the city's annual Top Hat ceremony.

When the gathered dignitaries hand over a top hat for the captain of the first boat through the canal to sign, the shipping season has officially begun.

"It's kind of like baseball," said Sprunt, who lives in St. Catharines.

"It's saying winter's over. Let's go."

There are plenty of canal opening events for the public to attend this morning.

St. Catharines, Thorold and Port Colborne each have their own.

Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey plans to attend all three.

"I'll be running," he said.

Badawey said the canal is integral to his community and he hopes shipping continues to be a key way of transporting goods around the world.

"We have a great deal of pride in the canal," Badawey said.

The pride extends to Thorold, where dignitaries, a shipmaster, schoolchildren and a singer will gather for the city's annual Mountaintop Ceremony at the Lock 7 Viewing Complex.

Terry Dow of the tourist centre said each canal community's opening ceremony has a different flavour, adding that all the municipalities support each other.

"We really try to work together," Dow said.

This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the present Welland Canal, the fourth to be dug between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie within 200 years. The first canal opened in 1829.

Tip of the hat to those who've gone before

The top hat ceremony was created in 1947 to recognize the first trip made through the first Welland Canal back in 1829.

Feasby Garment and Linen Rental, a St. Catharines company, sponsored the event and offered a top hat to the captain of the first upbound vessel to pass through the canal.

Captains sign the inside of the hat, which is kept at the St. Catharines Museum at Lock 3 on display. There have been two hats since the start of the tradition. The original, full of signatures, was retired in 1985."