Prepping For The 400th Anniversary
Of Samuel de Champlain’s Historic 1609 Voyage –
Leahy Secures Funds
To
Jump-Start Quadricentennial Events
(WEDNESDAY, March 19) -- As communities from throughout the
Champlain Valley gathered Wednesday at a workshop to continue
planning for next year’s 400th anniversary of Samuel de
Champlain’s historic 1609 Lake Champlain voyage, Sen. Patrick Leahy
(D-Vt.) announced that he has secured nearly $400,000 in National
Park Service funding to help jump start the commemoration.
Of that total, Leahy has secured $250,000 to be coordinated by the
Lake Champlain Basin Program -- some of which will go to support the
northern voyage of the Lois McClure, the 19th Century
sailing canal boat replica, to Quebec City this summer. The Lois
McClure will kick off the Champlain Quadricentennial celebration
this July by sailing to Quebec City to commemorate the founding of
Quebec. Along the way, the Lois McClure will visit several ports of
call in Canada and then on Lake Champlain, returning home in
anticipation of the 2009 events in Vermont and New York. The funds
secured by Leahy will also support joint educational projects with
the Erie Canal and Hudson Heritage Areas -- which are connected to
southern Lake Champlain – as well as a small grants program of
$50,000 to support communities and organizations on both sides of
Lake Champlain to help them participate in the events of 2009.
Leahy, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also
has secured a second Park Service allocation of $147,600 that will
support the new federally designated Champlain Valley National
Heritage Area. Two major themes of the Heritage Area are “The
Making of Nations” and “Corridors of Commerce,” significant themes
associated with the region’s historic geographical importance.
These funds, also managed by the Lake Champlain Basin Program, will
include a new $100,000 small grants program for Vermont communities
and organizations to support projects related to the Champlain
Quadricentennial celebration in 2009.
“For centuries Lake Champlain has anchored, empowered, protected and
helped sustain the communities and the people of this expansive
valley,” said Leahy. “It is a defining feature of our landscape and
our culture. The quadricentennial is a milestone worthy of a
year-long series of events to celebrate the history and heritage of
our great Lake Champlain, and I am pleased that these funds will
help light the spark.”
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