The event, slated for Saturday, Sept. 14, is trying to break its own record by having the largest raft of kayaks, canoes and guide boats on Fourth Lake. It benefits children’s hospitals in Rochester and Syracuse
By Mary Beth Roach
The One Square Mile of Hope event in the Adirondack town of Inlet is fun and fundraising all rolled into one, according to its website. And it is all that, but there’s more — this year’s participants can possibly set a new world record.
The event, slated for Saturday, Sept. 14, is trying to break its own record by having the largest raft of kayaks, canoes and guide boats on Fourth Lake, while raising funds to benefit the Golisano Children’s Hospitals in Rochester and Syracuse, local First Responders and the Kiwanis Club of Farmington-Victor.
If 3,151 boats gather on the lake near Inlet’s Arrowhead Park — on the Fourth Lake —, the village can break the record it set in 2014 when it had 3,150 kayaks, said Adele Burnett, tourism director for the Town of Inlet and co-chair of the event. The 2014 event marked the third time that Inlet had garnered the title in six years.
Since it has become so popular over the years, people are constantly asking when the next one is, Burnett said they decided to hold it again this summer and try to set a new record. But this is secondary to raising funds, Burnett noted.
Pre-registration can be done through the event’s website, onesquaremileofhope.org.
Once signed up, participants will receive information on parking, launch sites and packet pick-up.
Because of the relatively small size of the town and park, many of those who take part will find their own spots to put in — perhaps a nearby motel or a camp that they or friends own —and paddle their way to the area to Arrowhead Park.
The entry fee is $40 per boat, and it’s the kayak, canoe or guideboat that makes up the count; not the number of people who are in the boats.
If the Guinness Book of World Records opts to acknowledge the event, it will tell the organizers what it requires, Burnett explained. In its previous three attempts, Guinness required a photo, a video showing the raft free floating for 30 seconds without touching any land mass or motorized vessel, and proof of how they counted the boats in the raft, she added.
Inlet’s first attempt to break the record was in 2008, when Connie Perry, owner of the Frisky Otter Tours, a kayak rental outfit in Inlet and a member of the Inlet Business Association, had a friend who had breast cancer and ultimately died. She had wanted to do something to increase awareness of the disease. Someone, Burnett said, had stumbled across a Guinness World Record for the largest raft of canoes and kayaks, and with Perry owning the Frisky Otter, it seemed like an appropriate venture to take on.
That year, Inlet ended up with 1,104 boats, beating the then-record held by Cleveland with 776 boats. In 2010, Pittsburgh bested Inlet with 1,619. Inlet took the title back in 2011 with 1,902. In 2013, Suttons Bay on Lake Michigan broke it with 2,099, and Inlet claimed it back in 2014 with 3,150.
Organizers never dreamed they would actually break the record in their first attempt, but perhaps even more gratifying was that they raised more than $53,000, Burnett said. And they have been very successful in their fundraising efforts, having raised $300,000 for breast cancer programs and awareness initiatives, Burnett said.
Putting together the upcoming attempt is a new team of volunteers, with support from Kiwanis of the Farmington-Victor, just west of Rochester.
One Square Mile of Hope is part of a larger festival that continues throughout the day at Arrowhead Park, with a health fair, featuring entertainment and food. The event was named One Square Mile of Hope, because there is about one square mile of Fourth Lake that is within the Town of Inlet. The rest of Fourth Lake is in the Town of Webb. And the “hope” was to raise awareness for the fight against breast cancer, Burnett noted.
The 2024 event has a new cause, but nevertheless, it still inspires hope.
For information and to register, visit the website: onesquaremileofhope.org.