New Channels - in the Year of the Water Tiger
Quapaw Canoe Company 2022 Search for Business Partner
Dear Friends, Family and Fellow River Rats:
Twenty-four years into our existence as Quapaw Canoe Company I am standing around the fire tonight with my team of Mighty Quapaws, in the long darkness of the New Year (of the Water Tiger), reminiscing on the goodness of the journey, and the colorful stories flowing alongside. I am putting pen to paper, to send out smoke signals, and sound the trumpet. I am ready for a business partner. I am getting the glowing feeling this will be a life-changing step. I am excited to share the news.
Over the past 2 decades we Quapaws have survived recession, pandemic, and many other curve balls: a deadly tax fight, a thousand year flood (and then another thousand year flood!) and many other hurdles & challenges. We and the snow geese and beavers and turtles, we have survived it all. Others weren’t so lucky, and didn’t — like eight freshwater mussels, two fish, and eleven bird species. We’re happy to be amongst the living. It is a testament to our vision, and the strength of our operations. And yet we have a renewed challenge to help those struggling, the rest of creation. Now in 2022, we are moving forward with new dreams, new canoes, and renewed enthusiasm for our work as the “worker bees” of our Queen, our beloved river, the Mighty Mississippi herself. Our purpose is a balanced life for all on mother earth, all 5 million species. The canoe is the ideal craft to carry our mission forward. The canoe is all about balance. (Furthermore, the Small Business Administration of Mississippi helped me prepare an evaluation of the business, and a pathway forward).
Mark River has been with me as my right hand man for 11 years now, and last year we were joined by a couple of voyageurs, Jean-Canôt and Solange to add onto the Mighty Quapaw home base team. Meanwhile downstream, Water Opossum (Capt. Layne Logue) is running forward with Quapaw Vicksburg (est. 2016), and “Mississippi” Matthew Burdine is preparing to open Quapaw Memphis (est. 2021). There are 11 on-call guides we bring on board when we need extra help, and 7 shuttle drivers. We have the best guides on the Lower Mississippi River expertly guiding our canoes, and changing lives through adventure and education. We are building the best voyageur canoes ever seen on the big river in our Clarksdale, MS, canoe shop.
Meanwhile, back on land, behind the scenes in the office, we are primed and ready for some strategic building on. This is where we need help. This is the kind of partner we need. Someone who thrives on running the office, answering phones and emails, designing trips and website pages, printing t-shirts and bumper stickers, creating new partners, and sparking promotions, and keeping on top of all the accounting, and fine-tuning all of the internal systems essential to any business. This perfect person will be someone with a deep and sincere passion for the river, and the preservation of our wild mother earth. This will be someone who sees things like we do, with the same feeling we have in our hearts — for adventure, for education, and for the health of the big muddy river.
Since start date 1998 I have been “the Chief of Many Hats.” But now I am having trouble keeping up. No longer can I burn the candle on both ends like I used to. I’m seeing a lot of snow on the mountain when I lift my hat up. This ol’ river rat, who was first blown over by the brave, bold, beauty of the big river back in 1982, on a five month raft trip down the Mississippi, is not getting any younger. I need a partner to keep this going.
I am now looking in the rear-view mirror at the long, winding river road behind, and feeling full of deep-felt appreciation for you, for our friends & family, for the river, and for all creation, and for this blessed journey. But simultaneously I am also feeling my age, and mortality knocking on the door. Next year I will turn 60. My ego tells me I’m still 18, but my body is telling me otherwise! And so this all about provenance, and sustainability.
I am renewing my search for a partner, for a perfect person to run with the torch, and to carry this work on. I am initiating this search in the New Year 2022 with renewed enthusiasm and zeal for the future of Quapaw and the never-ending flow of the river — and all of the great work still to be done. The river is forever changing, and challenging, and rewarding, with new channels to follow. Life is perpetually offering the refreshing rejuvenation for more people, and more good work in the mother earth sanctuary of the the big broad floodplain, the cradle of creation in the middle of the deep south, our beloved wild, free flowing Lower Mississippi River, all 1154 miles of her, from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico.
This person will be a special, unique individual. I know you exist out there, and that you have been looking for this kind of opening! If this strikes a chord for you — if your pathway feels parallel to ours, and you see potential for partnership — please respond directly to address below with letter of interest, bio, and resume. On the other hand, if you know someone else who fits the bill, please share! Perfect partner will join us this year, with the future potential of complete ownership (if a couple years as partner demonstrates a good fit!).
Sincerely yours, always, in service of the big river,
John Ruskey Quapaw Canoe Company 291 Sunflower Avenue Clarksdale, MS 38614 www.island63.com 662-902-7841 john@island63.com johnruskey@att.net
New Channels - in the Year of the Water Tiger
Hey there Driftwood Johnnie, having just rounded the orbit of my 60th I am def feeling that awareness of the next exciting chapter. The Three Rivers Project, here on the Mighty Miss in Alton Il, just hired an outstanding communications person that has made our work and mission so much more seamless. Best of luck in your endeavor to find your "Hannah Lee". You are wise to seek her out. We will help by putting the word out for the Mighty Quapaws. Whoop Whoop!!!