[Cider Jim]

One of the coolest things about living in the Hill City (and if LU had its own batteau, I'd be the first to sign up and volunteer as the cook).

Batteau Festival 2011: Pull of river draws younger participants
Under a scorching sun, brothers Will and Taylor Smith make last-minute repairs to their handmade batteau, The Morning Dew.

The weather-beaten boat is a hand-me-down from their father, Ralph Smith, a longtime veteran of the James River Batteau Festival. The boat has survived 10 festivals, more than 1,000 miles on the river and untold abuse from rocks and rapids.

At 23 and 21, respectively, Will and Taylor Smith are among the youngest batteaumen in this year’s festival, which floated off from the downtown Lynchburg riverfront Saturday morning amid cheers from hundreds of onlookers. The Smith brothers crewed their first batteau five years ago and have been hooked ever since.

“If the festival’s going to last and continue, it’s going to need young blood,” said Taylor Smith, an Amherst County native who graduated from Appalachian State University this spring.

Each June, the batteau festival celebrates a time before highways and railroads, when the James River was the main artery between the tobacco fields of Lynchburg and the Richmond marketplace. For eight days, crews take to the river in handmade replicas of batteaux and retrace centuries-old trade routes.

Now in its 26th year, the James River Batteau Festival is attracting a younger generation of batteaumen (and women), who are bringing fresh momentum to the event.

http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2011/j ... r-1117934/