- Northeast Wisconsin Paddlers held the annual Appleton Locks Paddle Saturday, drawing more than 70 kayakers, canoers and paddleboarders to travel through four historic locks.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
More than 70 kayakers, canoers and even paddleboarders traveled downstream on the Fox River Saturday in the annual Appleton Locks Paddle.
The trip took the group through each of four historic locks. The manual opening of each lock allowed the paddlers a short break on their five-mile journey. The lock tenders say the more than 150-year-old lock system is a rare relic.
“It's unique because we're not pushing buttons. It's all manual. It's basically gravity,” said Tim Vosters, lock tender. "That it’s still preserved, still working, is fantastic."
Vosters is a second-generation lock tender. His father began the job in the 1950s, and the Appleton locks date back to 1856, according to Northeast Wisconsin Paddlers.
