welland canal boatnerd gathering

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BigRiver
Posts: 1090
Joined: April 28, 2010, 6:37 pm

Re: welland canal boatnerd gathering

Unread post by BigRiver »

The loss of the scrapyard tours (liability issues) + COVID can be blamed for the demise of the Welland gathering. Attendance numbers had been dropping every year. However if enough people want it, I am sure the gathering could be reinstated.
Guest

Re: welland canal boatnerd gathering

Unread post by Guest »

Unfortunately, the assorted enthusiast gatherings have been in decline over the years and will likely become even more uncommon in the future. The same goes for the paid membership groups like you mention (Lake Huron Lore, etc.), especially the smaller ones. I don't believe that the remaining organizations publish their membership counts but I'm certain they are in decline also as although the hobby can garner much more exposure than it may have once been able to accomplish, more and more information has become freely accessible online that was once only available across a broad audience through the assorted marine journals published by these groups. Interestingly, this same paradigm shift has increased the popularity of some other subjects such as the airline spotting hobby with a multitude of live streams at major airports worldwide now available that, at least for the moment, seem to be getting sufficient financial support from viewers to allow expansion and the purchase of new equipment by the content creators. I admit this may be comparing apples to oranges as there is also a wide range of ship spotting streams around the lakes, but the volume and unpredictability of traffic precludes dedicated live production for the most part.

In the end, there are really two types of enthusiasts. One is composed of those interested in a subject but not sufficiently interested to devote any significant financial outlay and/or personal time to join the associated groups or attend gatherings while the other is more likely to commit financially and/or personal time to further their interest in the hobby. Since the 1980s, it seems that there have been fewer and fewer of the latter especially among younger generations. For example, I recall several instances in which I attended gatherings of some marine societies while in my 40s and being the youngest person in the room.
guest

welland canal boatnerd gathering

Unread post by guest »

this coming weekend use to be the boatnerd gathering at the canadian corp in thorold, ontario when it 1st started it was in late october to co incide with the monthly meeting of the welland canal ship society. but the w.c.s.s. went the way of the lake huron marine lore....defunked i wonder if the welland {thorold} will get revived in the future or is going to be done?
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