The Lois McClure, an authentic replica of a 19th-century canal boat, will be in Tonawanda on August 15 and on Canalside in Buffalo on Friday, August 18-Sunday, August 20 , as part of a Canal Bicentennial Celebration - the groundbreaking of the Erie Canal was held in Rome, N.Y. on July 4, 1817.

The community is invited to board the replica of a 1862 sailing canal boat. Tonawanda and Buffalo are just two stopping points along the vessel’s seasonal tour of New York’s historic canals.

During its journey, the Lois McClure will be laden with seeds of white oak and white pine trees (provided by the DEC), which will help to tell the story of the wood used to build the canal boat. That same wood helped to industrialize cities such as Buffalo – the logging industry made a lot of people rich and put Buffalo on the map as a boomtown. Two hundred years later, the Lois McClure will help tell that story, and that of the Erie Canal.

Schedule for public boarding is:

Tonawanda – August 15, 1:00-7:00pm

Buffalo (Canalside) – August 18-20, 12:00-6:00pm