The Pawtuxet River Authority and the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program is hosting an event on Friday, September 30th from 10 a.m. until noon to celebrate the restoration of the Pawtuxet River. The celebration will take place at the Broad Street Bridge in Pawtuxet Village on the Wariwck/Cranston line. This event is free and open to the public.
The event will feature an invocation to the River and blessing for the return of the fish runs by the Narragansett Indian Tribe. A speaking program will follow with state, federal and local environmental leaders and restoration partners, including Governor Lincoln Chaffee, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, EPA Regional Administrator Curt Spalding, RIDEM Director Janet Coit, and Jonathan Stone, executive director of Save The Bay.
To conclude the event, a group of canoeists and kayakers will paddle down the Pawtuxet River and into Narragansett Bay using the new "Blueways" water trail made possible by the dam removal.
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In August 2012, the Pawtuxet River Authority and its partners demolished the obsolete Pawtuxet Falls Dam. Doing so has allowed for the restoration of the river's natural flows and has opened a passage for native migratory fish.
