The Huntsville Festival of the Arts (HFA) is asking residents for canoes to keep a yearly mural project seaworthy.
Inspired by the works of Canadian artist Tom Thomson, a group of local artists will paint seven canoes in the open at River Mill Park from June 12 to 17.
Dan Watson, the HFA’s executive director, says all they need are the canvases.
“We are again looking for some canoe donations,” says Watson. “Gently-used canoes. They don’t need to be seaworthy, just something that can be painted over. So we’re asking people if they have them. A lot of times people have them in their backyards, they’re not using them anymore, so we’ll take them.”
According to Watson, anyone that donates a canoe will get a charitable donation tax receipt for $400. Once painted, the canoes will be auctioned off at the Algonquin Outfitters Paddle Art Auction in the fall, to benefit local arts groups and initiatives.
“People will be able to bid on some of the canoes and raise some money for some good causes,” says Watson.
The initiative is part of the Huntsville Art Crawl, a self-guided tour of artwork around downtown Huntsville running through the month of June. Watson says people can fill out a “passport” by visiting five different sites to enter a prize draw, with $25 in Downtown Dollars given to the first 30 people to submit theirs.
To donate a canoe, contact [email protected] or 705-788-2787. More information on programming can be found at https://huntsvillefestival.ca.