I arrived at the downtown Riverwalk in plenty of time to scope out a good spot to view the Boat Parade. I discovered a pre-parade parade of all kinds of boats plying the river in both directions.
As I observed in a previous photo essay last summer, kayaks are a major Milwaukee attraction.
Among the innumerable, generic motorboats and pontoon boats two far more unique boats caught my eye in the pre-parade showcase. One was this currach, a traditional Irish row boat, rowed by members of the Irish Currach Club of Milwaukee (according to the sign emblazoned on its side).
This boat, which resembles a miniature barge bearing a miniature Milwaukee Road caboose and several small-scale industrial mining trucks (as well as four actual-sized live humans), I took for one of the Boat Parade boats at first. But it was not.
I staked out a spot on the Wells Street bridge and waited for the parade to show up. Just as I spotted the lead boat, the Milwaukee Riverkeeper boat with its familiar open-mouthed giant fish, the bridge alarm went off and I had to scurry to the side before it rose! I grabbed this one shot but I missed a close up of the first couple boats in the parade.
I made it to the Kilbourn
Blvd. bridge in time to catch the rest of the parade.
Protective Mimicry with Leslie Vaglica & Adam Beadel as skippers
