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CITY PADDLES began in 2023, for the purpose of exposing Hartford's youth and youth who attend Hartford-based schools, to recreational paddling sports. It's an outdoor event experience designed to complement city summer camps and provide weekend programming in the fall and spring featuring canoeing, kayaking, and eventually paddle boarding.
CITY PADDLES started small with teaching and practicing new skills on beautiful Keney Park Pond, and then graduated to exploring larger water body crossings on Batterson Park's lake. In late spring, students can experience the thrill of floating down the lower Farmington River.
While practicing water safety and learning to be independent on the water, our program introduces these youth to the natural scenes that exist in their own urban backyards, and to what lives on the water surface or below. It also starts students down the road of acting as greater environmental stewards for Hartford and Connecticut's unique natural surroundings.