Whoo-whoop! #4

Mighty Quapaw Best of 2021 (Part 4)

River Time, LMRD #858, Wednesday, Jan 19, 2022

Continuing downstream, part 4 of the long, meandering adventure of Quapaw Canoe Company in 2021…

Brother E drums the voyageurs back to shore after a week on the river, at Tennis Court Landing, Mayersville, MS

Bringing the Mighty Quapaws out of the mystery & magnificence of the Mississippi River, and safely back to shore…

Tupelo Quapaws plan their Halloween Expedition at Quapaw headquarters

A good expedition requires some advance planning…

Tupelo Quapaws digging in with Capt Jean-Canôt

And a lot of good spirit!

Drumming Augusburg College River Semester into Helena, AR

We greeted some very special top-to-bottom educational expeditions…

Augusburg College River Semester in their hand-crafted Canoe-Catamarans, led by Dr. Joe Underhill, from Montezuma Landing

…and saw them off safe downstream…. May the River be with You!

Huckin’ Around participants exploring a “Blue Hole” — a hollow place in the sandbar which refills with clean water, and makes for a wonderful swim hole, including Mark Twain Scholar & Author, Cindy Lovell, and other adventurers

And went “Huckin’ Around” with Yazoo Yaupon, and made many new friends…

We now serve Yazoo Youpon on our trips….

North America’s only native caffeinated drink — from Ilex V — the Yaupon Holly, which thrives in the Mississippi Delta —Yazoo Yaupon is one of Clarksdale’s newest businesses!

Our final Community Canoe of 2021, including Yazoo Yaupon visionary leader, Oliver Luckett, and many of his staff.

Cups up to Yazoo Yaupon!

Canoe Rodeo #3 — Sunflower River

We ran a series of “Canoe Rodeos” with Spring Initiative — where kids learn to paddle their own canoes — finding freedom in the joy and frustrations of learning to steer a canoe…

Partnership with the Lower Mississippi River Foundation which is dedicated to fostering the next generation of river stewards — through deep, long-lasting experience and engagement on The Lower Mississippi River

…where you gain a little control over your fate in life…. and can reach destinations before deemed unattainable…

Helena Mayor Kevin Smith (Photo: Bernadette Messina) ~Kevin is also president of The Lower Mississippi River Foundation~

I donated a giant oil painting to the City of Helena, “Where the Ridge Meets the River” (depicting Crowley’s Ridge, and the Mississippi River from the mouth of the St. Francis, past Buck Island, and the Helena Harbor, to the Helena Bridge).

Allen Schaffer sharing home-grown persimmons with us Quapaws (photo: Karen “Solange” Fraser)

And received donations from others — friends are what it’s all about…

Mississippi Delta Persimmons

True friendship is a fruit that never rots or stales…

(Quapaw Canoe Company Best of 2021 will be continued tomorrow… with the final Whoo-whoop! #5… )