Add another ‘Opening Day’ to Minnesota’s outdoor recreation calendar

Opening days are holidays for Minnesotans who hunt or fish or love professional baseball.

Now, some canoeists are carving out a day to celebrate paddling in the same way.

Organizers of the Mississippi River Paddling Weekend of races and touring have rebranded the June 13-15 event as the “Minnesota Paddling Opener.”

The aim is simple, said Todd Foster, a co-organizer with friend Scott Miller. “How can we get as many people out on the water on the great Mississippi River?”

The original event, created four years ago, centers on a 145-mile race downriver from Brainerd. There also are shorter distances (43, 20, 12) to accommodate a variety of skills and interests.

All of the paddling concludes at Mississippi Point Park in Champlin, where the city will be celebrating its annual Father Hennepin Festival. Miller and Foster like the overlap, hoping their participants draw energy from the expected crowd.

“It is a great way to get people thinking about paddling for the season,” said Miller, of Minneapolis. “We have so many options [in Minnesota.]”

The event’s new look will get promotional bumps from the state tourism and outdoor leaders, who have hosted “governor’s openers” to coincide with fishing and hunting opening days.

A key ally for the paddlers is Randolph Briley, a former special assistant to the Department of Natural Resources commissioner who now runs the state’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Partnership. He also is a deputy director at the state’s tourism agency, Explore Minnesota.

The newly created Paddling Opener is justified on a few levels, Briley said. Minnesota, with the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and abundant lakes and rivers, has a national reputation for its paddling possibilities.

Then, there is the sport’s economic influence. In 2023, through manufacturing, jobs and registrations, the sports of canoeing and kayaking generated more than $37 million toward the state’s gross domestic product, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

“I am excited about having [a Paddling Opener],” Briley said. “Minnesota has long been known for boating and angling, and I would love to see that kind of profile be extended to other activities. Paddling fits right in there.”

Briley will promote the new opener on an Explore Minnesota podcast and his office’s monthly newsletter in the coming months.

Foster and Miller have a long history of paddles in their hands.

Foster helped coordinate Miller’s record speed run of the Mississippi River with three other paddlers in 2023. Miller has racked up other long distances and was inspired by participating in Missouri’s MR340, the nation’s longest continuous paddle race stretching 340 miles between Kansas City and St. Charles. It happens in July and draws upward of 600 paddlers.

Last year’s Mississippi River Paddling Weekend was a good indicator of where Miller thinks Minnesota’s fledgling version of the MR340 is headed. The main race drew more than 60 paddlers, tandem and solo, from 17 states and parts of Canada.

The men are wary of scaring off newcomers, who they think are key to sustaining the event and the recreation in general.

They’ve leaned into Minnesota paddling history in one realm: One of their partners is the Dorothy Molter Museum in Ely for the event’s 5-mile Root Beer Float.

Participants will get the soft drink in a glass bottle – a rite that made Molter famous. She lived for more than 50 years on Knife Lake in northern Minnesota, where she sold her homemade root beer to BWCAW visitors. She was the last allowed resident in the wilderness; she died in 1986.

The Minnesota Canoe Association is among the event sponsors. Its president said there is evidence the paddling event has picked up interest.

The group’s regular canoe training nights for rookies on Cedar Lake have had more participants in recent years, with some referencing the June event on the Mississippi, said Emily Broderson.

“It’s bringing people into the sport,” she said.

The event also is connecting the public to a remarkable resource, Miller said.

“The Mississippi River is still vastly underappreciated,” Miller said. “With undeveloped areas, islands and bluffs, it almost is a wilderness experience right here by the city.”