Photo credit: Ville de Mirabel
The very first Grande Descente
On September 22, on the occasion of the world river dayMore than 200 people of all ages answered the call from Fondation Rivières, the Corporation pour la protection de l'environnement de Mirabel and Canot-Kayak Québec to head down the Rivière du Nord! The first edition of the Great Descent began near Mirabel, under the Canuta bridge, and ended with a generous buffet at Golf le Sélect.
Many of you came from Saint-Jean sur le Richelieu, Montreal, Gatineau, Saint-Donat and Boucherville with your boats: paddleboards, kayaks, canoes (a wooden one!) and even a rabaska. The weather was fine, which was fortunate, because four of you accidentally made a splash in the water.
Community participation in the Grande Descente
Singer-songwriter Paul Piché and Quebec tenor Marc Hervieux were on hand to perform some toe-tapping songs. Author Alexandre Belliard a was inducted during the 5 à 7 as godfather of the Richelieu River, and actress and godmother of the Rivière du Nord, Salomé Corbo, also shared her personal attachment to the river. The actress wrote a letter in Le Devoir following his participation in and contribution to the first edition of the Grande Descente.
We were also visited by local elected officials, including the mayor of Mirabel (Patrick Charbonneau), the MNA for Argenteuil (Agnès Grondin), the MNA for Mirabel (Sylvie D'amours), the municipal councillor for Lachute (Christian David) and the mayor of Saint-André-d'Argenteuil (Stephen Matthews).
"I'm proud to support the Adopt Your River North initiative. The result can only be positive, because no matter how many gestures are made, in the end, it will be the Rivière du Nord that will benefit, as well as all the waterways that connect to it. Our beautiful and important Laurentian nature fully deserves this special attention. "
Thank you very much for coming
Fondation Rivières would like to thank all participants for coming out to celebrate World Rivers Day. Your presence and enthusiasm made the day a success and gave a voice to the Rivière du Nord.
We'd like to extend our thanks to the partners who made the event possible: Ville de Mirabel, Golf Le Sélect, Canot Kayak Québec, Écho Aloha, Bière Boréale, Brasserie Dieu du Ciel, Ozero Solutions and Multikit. Thank you for your commitment to protecting the Rivière du Nord.
For those of you who participated in the Grande Descente, we encourage you to send us your comments and suggestionswhich will be taken into account for the next edition.
See photos of the event, click here !
