{"id":7562,"date":"2018-06-10T21:51:15","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T01:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=7562"},"modified":"2018-06-11T00:10:29","modified_gmt":"2018-06-11T04:10:29","slug":"cardboard-canoe-races-medford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/06\/10\/cardboard-canoe-races-medford\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: Cardboard Canoe Races in Medford"},"content":{"rendered":"

What was the secret to success in the Cardboard Canoe Races<\/a> at Wright’s Pond in Medford today?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the name of the boat. It\u2019s procrastination. It works,\u201d said Fred Chalifoux of Medford, who paddled a cardboard refrigerator box that he\u2019d refashioned into the SS Procrastinating. \u201cA bit of math. A lot of cardboard. A lot of polyurethane. Enthusiasm. It\u2019s a fun activity. A lot of free time. And a lot of duct tape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Competitors were challenged to create and paddle two-person canoes they constructed from cardboard and limited other materials in the races hosted by Students of the Fells<\/a>, a 3-year-old outdoor education program piloted by the Friends of the Fells, and the Medford Recreation Department. Nik Tower, program director for the Students of the Fells, said the event was inspired by cardboard boat races they\u2019d heard about in California.<\/p>\n

Retta Smith, who is married to Mr. Chalifoux and paddled their boat with him, joked that the secret to success is \u201cHaving someone who knows how to build something.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple won their first heat and were busy patching the soggy bottom of their vessel with tape in preparation for later races. \u201cIt floats or it doesn\u2019t,\u201d Chalifoux said. \u201cIt\u2019s on borrowed time anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms (and our great festivals) by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/a>
The Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cardboard<\/a>
Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cardboard<\/a>
Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cardboard<\/a>
Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cardboard<\/a>
Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bravado<\/a>
Bravado aboard the S.S. Nork at the Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The S.S. Nork flips before the start of their heat during the Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Paddlers<\/a>
Paddlers right and climb back aboard the S.S. Nork at the Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The S.S. Nork flips again during the Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Hauling<\/a>
Hauling out the soggy remains of the S.S. Nork during the Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cardboard<\/a>
Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cardboard<\/a>
Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cardboard<\/a>
Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Wreckage<\/a>
Wreckage after the first heats of the Cardboard Canoe Races at at Wright’s Pond in Medford, June 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms (and our great festivals) by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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What was the secret to success in the Cardboard Canoe Races at Wright’s Pond in Medford today? \u201cIt\u2019s the name of the boat. It\u2019s procrastination. It works,\u201d said Fred Chalifoux of Medford, who paddled a cardboard refrigerator box that he\u2019d refashioned into the SS Procrastinating. \u201cA bit of math. A lot of cardboard. A lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,108,119],"tags":[3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7562"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7581,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562\/revisions\/7581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}