'Just about having fun': Stonycreek Rendezvous weekend celebrates the river, reunions

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Tightly packed rows of tents filled Greenhouse Park behind him and the beer taps were already flowing at 1:30 p.m. Saturday but Brandon Wigfield was already seated in his kayak ready to ride a Stonycreek River rapid.

"For me, this is where the party's at," the Oakland, Maryland, resident said. "This is where I'll be."

For 32 years, the river has always been the guest of honor at the Stonycreek Rendezvous, an annual weekend for boaters that has become a 1,000-strong "reunion" over the years.

Organized each May by the Benscreek Canoe Club, the event often serves as a ceremonial start to the area's peak whitewater season, while also offering local boating and rafting enthusiasts a chance to welcome others from across the country who enjoy the outdoor sport.

"We've got people here this year from as far away as Florida and Georgia," Canoe Club President Mike Cook said. "Some of them camp – but a lot also stay in the local hotels."

For Wigfield, his nearly two hour drive to the Johnstown area is an annual must on Rendezvous weekend.

"Sometimes you go to events like this and you never know what you're gonna get," he said. "At the Rendezvous, everyone here comes to boat – to be on the river. Everyone is into it here. The camaraderie is is just great."

Boaters compete in a skills competition-style "rodeo" in the afternoon. And in recent years, the club added a projector screen, lights and music alongside the river's banks to enable them to continue paddling after the sun sets, Cook said.

Once they dry off, attendees spend the day hanging out and supporting the park's local vendors or hit the road and explore the area, "which ends up being a nice bump in business for our local restaurants," he said.

Confluence resident Will Wanovich praised the event's relaxed vibe.

"Even the rodeo – it's really just about having fun," said Wanovich, a first-time Rendezvous attendee. "That's what kayaking is about."

Cook said the Rendezvous often draws a lot of familiar faces. The event typically draws a few hundred local visitors in addition to 800 or so from outside the region – many of whom keep coming back year after year.

But he said he was excited to see so many bringing their children this year – and sharing the sport they love with a new generation of boaters.

With his wife and three children in his cab beside him Jason Smith packed up his pickup truck with five kayaks Friday and drove more than 230 miles from Nazareth Northampton County so they could spend the weekend on the water together.

"We brought a cargo trailer ad a camper and we're set for the weekend," he said with a smile, as his three sons unloaded their boats for the rodeo.

"That's what we want to see," Cook said. "It's so cool seeing this expand – and new generations embrace this."