Low Bridge, Everybody Down!

An Erie Canal tour has been on my 'to do' list, but is one of those things that needs an out-of-town guest to justify. Of course, it didn’t have to be my out-of-town guest… so when my neighbor Gretchen said she had a friend in town and an extra ticket to the Erie Canal Murder Mystery Tour, I didn’t have to think twice. I did go to the website for the Colonial Belle, in Fairport, just to set my expectations: a three-hour barge tour with a chicken dinner and cash bar, with “Murder! Mayhem! Merriment! Mischief!”

Rita & Gretchen

Gretchen, Rita, and I boarded at 6:30 along with several dozen other people, and Gretchen made a beeline for the bar line, while Rita and I scoped out the dinner seating situation. What appeared to be reserved tables for large groups was actually assigned seating for all of the passengers, and we found ours at about the same time Gretchen appeared with a tray full of assorted drinks (she only wanted to stand in that line once!). Then we went up top, so we could enjoy the view and the breeze, and hear the commentary. We were immediately approached by a woman named Lois Lang, who identified herself as a reporter for the Post, and part-time docent at the zoo, and proceeded to take our names and a bit about us for her article. She seemed particularly impressed that Rita was from Malawi.

Everyone seemed very friendly, especially a woman with a British accent, who appeared to have come alone. Most of the passengers were 50+, but there were four young twenty-somethings, all employees of a Cheesecake Factory in Syracuse, who ended up at our dinner table.

Seriously low bridge...

The first thing we learned over the speakers was that when we were approaching low bridges, everyone really did have to stay down. Some of them were so low that you actually felt like you had to duck, even seated! We were heading in the direction of Pittsford, and it was difficult to simultaneously maintain a conversation, watch the scenery, and catch the detailed explanation of what we were seeing, which was quite interesting. So I’m not sure if I have my facts straight, but I think I heard that the canal has 36 locks, an elevation gain of 571 feet, and a general depth of 12-15 feet. In 1973, the canal broke open in Bushnell’s Basin and destroyed not only about 30 homes, but commercial use of the canal, since while it was closed for about a year for repairs, businesses found other means of transport.

Richardson's

I also learned that the lovely Richardson’s Canal House restaurant was once a nudist colony. And the Great Embankment, a 1-mile elevated engineering feat, took 8 years to complete and involved moving three hills in Pittsford, so the canal could cross over the Irondequoit Creek Valley. I’d never noticed, riding on the bike path, how this section of the canal sits at treetop level of the valley below!

Fisherman at Schoen Place

detective?!

We turned around just west of Schoen Place, in Pittsford Village, just as a man was catching an enormous fish (thankfully, he put it back in after showing it off).  Then we were called down to dinner below, where it was about 15 degrees hotter on a muggy hot summer evening. An older gentleman motioned that his seat was next to mine, and when I got up to let him in, he whispered to me that he was one of the actors, and needed to sit on the outside. So the mystery was about to unfold! I won’t get into the details of the plot, written by Cheryl Yehl, Managing Director of The Mystery Game, except to say that it was silly but fun, and more like a comedy act than a murder mystery. 

Dr. Gretchen, examining the victim...

The super friendly people up on deck turned out to be the actors, and most of the audience got into the interrogations, giving it right back to the ‘detective’ when they were called on to account for themselves. Gretchen and Rita were particularly funny when they had control of the microphone, as were the Cheesecake Factory girls! When someone started to go on too long or got boring, the ‘detective’ simply cut the person off with a quick “don’t care!” Everyone was laughing and having a good time.

The cash bar definitely helped with the merriment, and the chicken was…edible. The best part of the meal was the fudge brownie for dessert. After the mystery was ‘solved,’ and prizes were awarded to the table teams that guessed the murderer, we applauded the actors and could ask them questions about their real lives. In addition to the canal tours, they also perform at private parties and for fundraising events. Lois Lang turned out to be Cheryl Yehl, so Rita wasn’t going to be featured in a local paper after all, but Cheryl really is a docent at the zoo! 

This was my first time on the Erie Canal (as opposed to just biking alongside it), but definitely not my last. Gretchen, who’s done other cruises out of Fairport, recommended the regular one in the fall, when the colors are spectacular. And if I do this dinner cruise again some year with company, I will remember to ask for the vegetarian option – one of the girls at our table had a nice looking plate of pasta with veggies.

Aquavation meets Allendale Columbia Summer LEAP

Several years ago, a Rochester start-up caught my eye: Aquavation. The local company made customizable BPA- and dye-free water bottles. I ordered one with four photos of our dog, as a gift for Charlie. Recently, when I went to purchase more (for my chorus, Concentus), I noticed a change in their website – the customization option seemed to have disappeared. Disappointed, I contacted the company, and was delighted by an immediate response, explaining that their process was being redesigned, since the customization had been difficult for some customers to use. In the meantime, Sarah Plasky, the founder, and Entrepreneur in Residence at the Simon Business School, offered to meet with me to discuss my project.

Lindsey Brown, left and
Sarah Plasky, right

Fast forward: our conversation sparked other project ideas, and I was pleased to be able to facilitate one in particular for speedy implementation (Concentus would have to wait…). My idea was to provide bottles for the Summer Leap students at Allendale Columbia (a summer program to stem summer learning loss for city kids, that currently has grades 1-4). Sarah’s improvement of the idea was to have the kids actually design their own. So on the second day of the program, Sarah and a team of mentors, mostly Simon students and grads, spent a couple of hours with the kids. After introducing Sarah to the students, in the auditorium (fun fact – Sarah’s first job was lifeguarding with Michael Jordan!), Lindsey Brown, Co-Director for Summer LEAP at AC, interviewed Sarah about the engineering design process, so the students could understand the problem Sarah had hoped to solve (her initial bottle was personalized for a friend biking 100+ miles, to motivate him; she also wanted to make a dent in the use of single-use plastic bottles), how she imagined a solution (Sarah not only wanted to design personalized bottles, but to be a “social entrepreneur” – to give back to the community), how she developed a plan, how she created her first product, and what improvements were needed (not only has the quality improved drastically, so has the delivery – the first bottles melted into bananas because of poor packaging).

Sarah's table

Finally, we all moved into the cafeteria, in groups of 5 students and 2 mentors (including the instructors, and Charlie and me). Sarah and her team had designed a template, with a large (and to me, intimidating) blank space for the kids to draw on, or paste cut-out paper to – whatever they desired. It was great to watch each child dive right in, and to witness their enthusiasm and imagination. The project was tied to a lesson about the Harlem Renaissance, and the students were asked to choose a title that they identified with – poet, singer, chef, writer, musician, artist, healer – and they used this identity to inspire their art. 

The results were colorful and creative, and each one was uniquely beautiful. Sarah delivered the completed bottles at the end of term, so each student not only has a personalized, reusable bottle, but something to remember a fun and productive summer learning experience by. And with luck, they’ll all be back next summer.

For some video of Sarah chatting with the kids about their bottles: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA76RRMVcmw3F1XksmssuYyCwQ59N591J

For more information about Aquavation, go to their website: aquavation.org

For more information on Allendale Columbia’s Summer LEAP program:

http://www.summerleap.net/summerleap-at-allendale-columbia