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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Statue sought to honour paddler's life, tenacity
Winnipeg Free Press Archive Don Starkell in his element.
IF Don Starkell's admirers have their way, the late Winnipeg distance paddler will never stop canoeing along the Red River.
A move is afoot to erect a bronze statue of Starkell at The Forks or another riverfront location to commemorate his canoeing and kayaking adventures, most notably his three-year, 19,490-kilometre voyage from Winnipeg to Belem, Brazil, chronicled in Paddle to the Amazon.
Starkell paddled more than 120,000 kilometres before he succumbed to cancer in January at the age of 79. Along with the 1980-82 canoe trip to the Amazon, undertaken with his sons Dana and Jeff, his adventures included a 5,250-kilometre canoe race from Rocky Mountain House, Alta., to Montreal as part of Canada's centennial celebrations in 1967 and a 5,120-kilometre kayak trip from Churchill to Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., in 1991-92, recounted in Paddle to the Arctic.
"Paying homage to this Canadian hero is long overdue," said transportation researcher Mark Ojah, a former Winnipegger spearheading a drive to erect a life-sized statue depiction of Starkell's paddle to the mouth of the Amazon River with his sons.
"Don's inspirational story had a profound impact on me as a child," said Ojah, speaking over the phone from College Station, Texas. "His message of perseverance and tenacity really helped me through a lot of difficulties. That's the legacy and message I want other people to benefit from."
Ojah has enlisted the help of Starkell's family, Paddle to the Amazon documentary-maker Chris Forde and both the national and Manitoba arms of Paddle Canada to begin collecting names of supporters as a prelude to a fundraising drive. A life-sized bronze statue may cost anywhere from $150,000 to $300,000, not including installation and maintenance costs, Ojah said.
The ideal location for such a statue would be The Forks, said Ojah, citing the downtown site's long, pre-European history as a paddling destination and the large numbers of people who visit every day. But his group is eager to solicit location opinions at the website www.paddletotheamazon.com.
Officials with the city and The Forks agreed a Starkell statue is a great idea, but probably not at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine.
"That type of public art can help tell the story of Winnipeg," said city council riverbank chairman Justin Swandel (St. Norbert), who suggested Alexander Docks, which will soon undergo redevelopment, as a possible location for the statue.
"The idea makes sense, if someone wants to raise the money," added Jim August, CEO of The Forks, which receives and denies many requests to install monuments every year. "We have to be thoughtful about what we put there."
The start of the Starkells' trip to the Amazon was actually Senior Citizens Park, near the west end of Bronx Place in East Kildonan, said Dana Starkell, who supports the statue initiative.
"If young kids see something like that, it could grab their imagination and make them wonder what they could do," he said over the phone from Bettendorf, Iowa. "If there's any legacy my dad could leave behind, that would be it."
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 13, 2012 B1
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