North Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - 200 years of the Erie Canal calls for a celebration in the cities of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda on Saturday.
A bicentennial boat parade will depart from the Buffalo Launch Club on Grand Island at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning and make its way down the Niagara River to Gateway Harbor.
"It'll be led by the Erie Canal boat Seneca Chief with the Buffalo Maritime Center and then a number of boats that are going to be decorated in a bunch of different themes," said Alex Domaradzki, North Tonawanda's Director of Youth, Parks and Recreation with WBEN on Friday morning.
Some boats will be manned by crews decked out in 1825-style garb. They'll be doing some acting, too. There's another boat that will certainly catch your eye.
"I've heard there might even be a boat decorated as a birthday cake to celebrate the 200th birthday of the canal," Domaradzki said.
As for the boat leading the parade, the Seneca Chief, it has roots dating back to the very beginning of the canal.
"This is the first boat that traveled he full length of the Erie Canal back in 1825," Brian Trzeciak, Executive Director of the Buffalo Martime Center tells WBEN.
"It was Gov. DeWitt Clinton's boat and he took a barrel of water from Lake Erie and went all the way down to New York City and dumped that water in and that was known as the 'wetting of the waters', thereby opening the canal."
It's not the original Seneca Chief, though five years of work from 200 volunteers went into making the replica.
Onlookers are encouraged to bring their own chairs down to the harbor to watch as the parade arrives.