September 15, 2005
This article is from The Broadcaster, written by John Collins.
Who knew that an idea made out of cardboard would prove so durable?, Last weekend, hundreds of courageous, creative, and curious cardboard boaters and onlookers came to the on banks of Lake Naticook in Wasserman Park on a brilliantly sunny September afternoon for the 10th annual duct taped presentation of soggy but seaworthy silliness. Founded by Fran and Bob L’Heureux, longtime devoted Merrimack husband and wife public servants, the Merrimack Library Cardboard Boat Festival not only has become a family-oriented town tradition, it’s also the largest fund-raiser for the Merrimack Town Library Building Fund, having generated a total of $25,000 over the first nine years.
The L’Heureuxs first got the idea for the fund-raiser in the early 1990s during a summer vacation trip that took them through Heber Springs, Ark., home to the nation’s longest-running cardboard boat race, begun in 1987.
“We saw it in Heber Springs and brought the idea back (to Merrimack) and nobody was interested in it,” Bob recalled. “People here said I was crazy. Even though we had pictures. So after Fran came up with the idea of a library festival day, I kept going to the festival committee meetings every week and asking, ‘Can I have cardboard boat races?’ Finally, someone else said to the committee, ‘Just to shut him up, could somebody please tell him yes?’ So they did (say yes). And that’s all I needed.”
The L’Heureuxs were settled into a couple of shady lakefront beach chairs on Sept. 10 as they proudly surveyed the annual cardboard excitement at Naticook Lake, including watching the fastest boat race, won by Team Chop Shop, a group of six Merrimack High School juniors and sophomores who belong to the school’s FIRST Robotics Team.
The FIRST Robotics teammates paddled their speedy Dragon-shaped boat to a rather easy victory, far outdistancing the second-place Pequod, an extra heavy duty cardboard boat that kept its four 200-plus pound occupants including skipper Chris Clark of Merrimack, a multiple past winner, amazingly dry through the finish line of the triangular course.
The public-address announcer had some fun pointing out the vast age — and weight — differences between the first- and second-place finishers.
While the Merrimack Cup, given to the FIRST Robotic kids for having the fastest boat, was simple enough to award, deciding who got the prize for the cardboard boater with the biggest heart was a more difficult matter, said Pat Heinrich, chairman of the Merrimack Library board of trustees and the event’s coordinator. The Bob L’Heureux Biggest Heart Trophy is awarded each year to the boater who perseveres despite a leaky craft. The trophy is so named after the event’s founder because L’Heureux suffered a near fatal heart attack at Lake Naticook on the very day of the big event several years back. L’Heureux is content now to let Heinrich and her volunteer staff carry on the cardboard tradition, freeing him up to observe and enjoy — and to provide some veteran cardboard commentary for The Broadcaster.
“You see that raft that the Merrimack Journal guys built,” L’Heureux said, pointing out the simple, Huck Finn-themed cardboard fabric rolls-raft that represented one duo’s entry. “That’s probably the most common type of boat you’ll see each year. Then you have the V-hull boats, but probably the most innovative boat I’ve seen this year was (Grinning Moon’s) creation. I thought that was an awesome design, a really unique little boat.”
L’Heureux was referring to a particularly imaginative cardboard boat design and matching costumes put together by the husband and wife team of Danielle and James Mojonnier, owners of the award-winning Grinning Moon graphic design and illustration firm.
“It’s probably the most unique things I’ve seen in years,” said L’Heureux about the Mojonnier’s boat, which resembled two cardboard motorcycle sidecars attached side by side, and which they labeled “The Grinning Moon Pontoon.”
Let the paper record of the cardboard race show that the Mojonniers finished a distant second in a two-way race against the Huck Finn raft, due not to poor design — the Grinning Moon craft proved to be nearly waterproof — but more likely due to paddling inexperience.
Members of the Merrimack High School FIRST Robotics team who won the Merrimack Cup as the fastest in the field of 14 that entered were: team capt. Justin McGarry, Dan Petrovic, Izzy Hamnqvist, Tiffany George, Trevor Conway and Patrick Koenig.
So which is harder, building a robot or a cardboard boat? the kids were asked.
A robot, definitely, McGarry and Petrovic answered. “It took us three weeks to build the boat,” McGarry added. “But it takes six weeks to build a robot, and that’s working on it every single day.”
As McGarry made his post-race comments he and his teammates were already safely ashore, still out on the lake both the burly crews of the Pequod and Huck Finn continued to huff and puff, struggling toward the finish line.
Idea for the name of the defending champ’s entry in next year’s 11th annual Merrimack Library Cardboard Boat Festival: Row-Bot II.
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