In the coming months, I’ll be checking out Waterfront Park in search of the best places to take photos of this unique celebration. At the Falls of the Ohio, the river will be filled with steamboats for the first time in my lifetime. The river will be filled with boats, but most of them will cruise up river and only the ones doing a lock cruise will go down river by the falls. There is also talk that the site may be closed during that time for renovation. It’s important to remember that the Belle is the only Steamboat that will be attending the festival. The rest are all riverboats and not all have paddle wheels. It will be such a unique opportunity to capture the beauty created when these fine ladies are cruising the river together.
Based on my experience during Tall Stacks in Cincinnati, I know the pedestrian bridge will be a prime vantage point to capture the boats as they steam upriver. However, some of my best shots were taken while cruising. It’s a different perspective to be a part of the activity on the river while capturing the lights and excitement on the shore and vessels.
I invested in a Nikkor Fisheye lens a few years ago. It will be good for wide angle shots of the Belle of Cincinnati, The Spirit of Peoria and The River Queen joining the Spirit of Jefferson and Belle of Louisville at the wharf.
The Lincoln Memorial and neighboring homes are so beautiful when viewed from the river. Not to mention, the added boast of fall color we will be seeing by mid-October. I can already see the city looming ahead at the end of my boat cruise, the Balloon Glow and music concerts. It sure will be a breathtaking site and spectacular event.
As I imagine the images this event will create, I can’t help but feel excitement! Our city is truly special.
]]>1914 The Idlewild was built at Pittsburgh, PA by experienced steamboat and boiler builders, James Rees & Sons Company. Idlewild was a coal-fired sternwheeler. She started as a ferry while a bridge was being built between Memphis, TN and West Memphis, AR. Later, she ran day packet (freight) work and was outfitted for excursion trade.
1920s Idlewild continued to run packet work and excursions. By the end of the 1920s, the packet work was nearly gone, and she shifted to tramp excursion work by the early 1930s. She moved from town to town offering short excursions up and down the Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio River systems.
1930s The boat’s exterior began to show periodic change to accommodate excursion work. Cattle fencing for freight became a solid superstructure with windows, more space for passenger seating, an open dance floor, a bandstand on the second deck and crew accommodations altered to meet the tramping lifestyle.
1931 Idlewild was asked to come to Louisville to serve as its seasonal excursion vessel when the America caught fire and burned to the waterline right after Labor Day, 1930. At the end of the season, she returned to tramping.
1934 She returned to Louisville and remained there for seasonal excursion work through World War II. In the off-season, the Idlewild assisted the war effort by towing oil barges on the Mississippi River. She occasionally also served as a USO nightclub in the evenings.
1947 J. Herrod Gorsage purchased Idlewild, and she continued her work as a tramp excursion steamboat. More gradual changes took place to the exterior structure and interior accommodations.
1948 Gorsage changed the boat’s name to the Avalon to honor the deathbed wish of her Master, Ben Winters, who had died of a heart attack. It was the name of the first boat he worked on.
1948 Avalon was sold to a group of investors from Cincinnati and continued to run as a tramp steamer. Her 5’ draft gave her the ability to travel shallower rivers, and she earned the distinction of being the most widely traveled river steamboat of her size in American history. She still holds the record today.
1954 Her fuel system changed to a diesel-burning (cleaner, more economical) system. A telegraph was installed in the pilothouse to replace the original bells-and-gongs system of communication with the engine room.
1961 By the fall, Avalon was in deplorable condition and cost more to operate and repair than income would cover. The owners planned to demolish her in the spring of 1962. They wintered her at Cincinnati.
1962 A Cincinnati newspaper reporter outlined a scheme to put the boat up for auction as a PR stunt. He was successful and achieved a court order to stop the demolition.
1962 May 24, 1962, she was sold to the highest bidder — Jefferson County, KY, Judge Executive Marlow Cook. The city paid $34,000 and the Avalon was towed to her new permanent home in Louisville. She was renamed the Belle of Louisville on October 14, 1962, a name inspired by Marlow Cook to honor his wife, Nancy, who went to college in New York and was nicknamed the Louisville Belle.
The new Belle took almost a year to repair, refurbish and reactivate her steam system. In the spring, the Belle of Louisville was operational just in time for the first Kentucky Derby Festival: Great Steamboat Race with the Delta Queen on April 30, 1963.
1963 Belle of Louisville began a regular excursion schedule at her new and permanent homeport, the 4th Street Wharf.
1968 The Belle had three boilers replaced (the boat’s 4th set), her bow lengthened and hull widened for stability. Her current dimensions are nearly 200’ long and 46’ wide.
1972 The Belle of Louisville was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
1981 Belle received a new wharfboat – former Life-Saving Station #10 (original station installed on the Ohio in November, 1881 – this vessel is vintage 1929), whose boatmen saved thousands of lives and millions of dollars of cargo from the hazards of the river and the Falls of the Ohio. She would later become a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
1988 The Belle participated in the first Tall Stacks celebration of steamboats and the steamboat era at Cincinnati in October. The event was attended by hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. The Belle was the flagship as the oldest operating river steamboat in the country. The celebration continued every few years through 2006, honoring the Belle and the Steamboat Era at each of the six celebrations.
1989 The Belle of Louisville was named a National Historic Landmark in June, 1989. The Belle had become the oldest operating Mississippi river-style steamboat in the nation. She was built at the end of the era when steamboats were the force behind the development of the country, and she remains a phenomenal piece of our country’s past.
1990s By the middle of the decade, major renovations took place— exposing some of the boat’s historic features and upgrading some of her operating systems.
1997 In late August, a vandal deliberately attempted to sink the boat by opening a valve that allowed water to fill the hold. Through rapid action from the crew and a local towing company, the Belle was saved from completely sinking. She was repaired and brought back into operation by the spring, 1998.
2000 Louisville Metro Government contracted a private marine management company to operate the Belle and other vessels at the 4th Street Wharf.
2005 The private operating and management contract for the Belle abruptly ended after four years, and the operation of the Belle of Louisville, Spirit of Jefferson and Life Saving Station #10 was returned to Louisville Metro. Operating duties were assigned to Waterfront Development Corporation where she remains today as an extension of Waterfront Park.
2007 Waterfront Development Corporation hired a prominent marine architect for the first time ever to survey the condition of the Belle. She was declared amazingly river-worthy, and a 10-year preservation plan was implemented.
2009 Belle of Louisville turned 95 and continued to hold the distinction of being the oldest operating river steamboat in America.
2010 The Belle opened her 2010 season with a much-needed air-conditioned ballroom deck for passenger comfort. Heat for the ballroom deck in the winter months also allows her to hold functions and parties dockside.
2014 The Belle of Louisville turns an unprecedented 100 years old. She continues to be the only authentic river steamer still operating that was built during the Steamboat Era. No other riverboat in American history has ever reached the Belle’s age or traveled as many rivers. She is a Louisville, Kentucky, icon and a national treasure.
]]>I first experienced “the power of the authentic” during my first internship at a Massachusetts whaling museum. One of the required readings was a narrative about a voyage aboard the whaling vessel Charles W. Morgan written by Nelson Cole Haley. The novel charted the highs—and inevitable lows—that come with a four-year voyage. Haley discussed the work of the crew and provided a good sense of the isolation one felt from being in one place for so long. But it wasn’t until an intern field trip to the Charles W. Morgan, that the story came alive and I truly felt its impact.
Many of you, hopefully, have had the chance to experience something similar with Louisville’s famous riverboat, the Belle of Louisville. Regardless, you won’t want to miss the Centennial Festival of Riverboats. Why? First of all, it will be one of the best festivals of 2014. It’s six days of fun for the entire family that includes, fireworks, a balloon glow, riverboat races, plenty of Kentucky-inspired food and drinks and the chance to wish our Belle a happy 100th birthday. Second, it’s your opportunity to experience “the power of the authentic” up close. Nine of the country’s grandest riverboats will be on the Louisville waterfront waiting to take you on a cruise through history and give you a glimpse of what life was like when riverboats were the pillars of the American way of life.
October can’t get here soon enough. See you on the waterfront!
]]>Small river towns along the Ohio and Mississippi River systems became thriving cities because of the economic impact of steamboat trade. Steam power inspired the Industrial Revolution, and our country grew rapidly from the boom in commerce and influence of travelers, inventors and businessmen. The steamboat era lasted from the 1820s to the 1920s, but riverboats continued working on rivers into the 1960s. The last of them is the historic Belle of Louisville, built as a cargo and passenger vessel in 1914. She is turning 100 years old in 2014 and is the only one of her kind to ever reach that age.
]]>The nearby Falls of the Ohio, as the only non-navigable stretch of the river between modern-day Pittsburgh and the Gulf of Mexico, prompted this region’s earliest European settlement in late eighteenth century. Today’s regional cityscape including Louisville, New Albany, Jeffersonville and Clarksville grew out of this natural phenomenon. The celebration of the Belle’s 100th is thus an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of river travel and the enormous cultural influence it has exerted in this region—an area that the local news programs refer to as “Kentuckiana.”
Riverboats attending the Centennial include the Belle of Louisville, The Spirit of Jefferson (Louisville, KY), Anson Northrup (Minneapolis, MN), River Queen (Cincinnati, OH), Colonel (Galveston, TX), Belle of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH), General Jackson (Nashville, TN) and the Spirit of Peoria (Peoria, IL). In addition, the American Queen (Memphis, TN) will be docked in Jeffersonville, IN Friday and Saturday evening (Oct. 17 and 18). The boats will host cruises, concerts, dinners and tastings throughout the week to complement the festival on the Waterfront.
For general event information, visit FESTIVAL OF RIVERBOATS SITE AND PROMOTIONAL VIDEO
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Festival Committee invites architects, designers & artists to participate in the Centennial Festival of Riverboats through the design of a small-scale, temporary and multipurpose pavilion to be used in series throughout the Waterfront. The pavilions will accommodate a variety of activities during the event. Actual uses may include music performance space, seating, bourbon tasting space or areas for vending and exhibitions. Because of its repetition along the event grounds, the winning pavilion will play a major role as a visual and programmatic cue for the festival.
REQUIREMENTS
No local registration is required although a technical understanding of the proposed design is necessary for fabrication of the awarded proposal. Design teams are strongly encouraged to include members with expertise in architecture or structures. Designs must not present risk to the general safety and welfare of the event attendees and must consider structural requirements and the possible need to withstand high winds and driving rains without the use of fixed, below-grade foundations. Entrants will note that pavilion locations will be comprised largely of paved surfaces with no capacity for stakes, penetrations or other sub-surface work.
Entrants should clearly represent the form, material and fabrication strategy of the proposed structure while communicating the design’s relation to the site and event. The scale of the pavilions should be seen as that of a small gallery or stage area (roughly 750 square feet each). The final scale and form of the project is the decision of the individual designer or design team. Entrants are required to consider material availability and complexity of assembly on a budget of $8,000 per pavilion. Entrants will have no control over the placement and orientation of their designs.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Entries will include scale plan drawings, technical sections and any three-dimensional views needed to communicate the conceptual and technical nature of each project.
All project information & representation is to be presented on one size E1 (30”x 42”) .pdf in landscape format. Submissions will be sent via email to [email protected].
EXHIBITION
Entrants meeting submission criteria will be part of a public exhibition at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville’s Museum District of West Main Street. The exhibition will culminate in a jury and reception to announce the winning projects.
SCHEDULE
Announcement: August 30, 2013
Registration Deadline: February 28, 2014
Submission Deadline: March 28, 2014
Public Exhibition of entries KMAC: 2014 May 15th – June 15th
Jury/Announcement of Prizes: June 14th, 2014
Winning entrants will be notified via email.
Centennial Festival of Riverboats: October 15-19, 2014
ELIGIBILITY
The competition is open to all individuals or design teams who would like to contribute ideas to this event.
REGISTRATION FEES AND PROCEDURE
A $50.00 registration fee per submission is required for entry and will apply toward exhibition costs. Multiple submissions are permitted and must be registered individually. The registration payment(s) can be made by credit card through PayPal™ atWWW.LOUISVILLEWATERFRONT.
JURY
Rick Bell, Louisville Waterfront Historian
Karen Gillenwater, Curator, Carnegie Center for Art and History New Albany, IN
Augusta Brown Holland, Community Developer
Nat Irvin II, Strickler Chair, University of Louisville College of Business
Representative Joni Jenkins, Kentucky House District 44
Sarah Lyon, Photographer
Kulapat Yantrasast, Founder & Principal, wHY Architecture
PRIZES
First Prize:
$2000 + fabrication/installation of the project)
Second Prize:
$1000
Honorable Mention:
$500 (awarded at the discretion of the jury)
INQUIRIES
Individual questions will be responded to via email at [email protected].