SPORTS

Great Dock Canoe Race canceled for second straight year due to pandemic

Adam Fisher
Naples Daily News

An annual Naples tradition, one that once drew hundreds of spectators, has been knocked out by COVID-19 for a second straight year.

The Great Dock Canoe Race has been canceled due to concerns over the pandemic. The annual event, which usually happens the first weekend of May, had run for 43 consecutive years from 1977-2019.

The cancellation was announced on the Great Dock Canoe Race’s Facebook page late Friday.

“The circumstances surrounding the coronavirus simply made it infeasible to put on the Great Dock Canoe Race that we know and love,” the post reads.

Matt Flores, the race's chairman, said it would have been difficult to put on the event the right way and to do it safely. Rather than disappoint the racers, fans and sponsors with a diminished event, the organizers decided to cancel.

"It's just the way things are right now," said Flores, referencing the pandemic. "We didn't think it was feasible."

Last year:Great Dock Canoe Race canceled for first time in 44 years due to coronavirus uncertainty

Last year the canoe race was canceled in the early weeks of the pandemic when Florida was under a stay-at-home order and public gatherings were banned in Naples. 

The Great Dock Canoe Race was started in 1977 and takes place at Naples City Dock on Crayton Cove. Each year hundreds of spectators line the pier to watch the event, which caters to year-round residents celebrating the end of the winter tourist season and the unofficial start of summer in Naples.

In their Facebook post, race organizers said the event will return next year.

“We are bummed. We know you are, too,” the post reads. “But we promise that we plan on coming back bigger and better than ever. Hang in there with us. The 2022 Great Dock Canoe Race will be worth the wait!”

The future of the canoe race has been in doubt before.

In 2016, race founder Vin DePasquale announced that year’s race, the 40th edition, would be the last. DePasquale later said he was ready to retire and his announcement was aimed at getting another organization to take over the event.

The Naples Junior Chamber stepped in. The Junior Chamber, known as the Jaycees, have organized the race since 2017.

However, participation dipped in 2017 after some people thought the Canoe Race had ended. The number of canoe and fans had been steadily climbing before the 2020 race was canceled.

“I don’t think a two-year hiatus during a global pandemic will negatively impact the future of the event,” Flores said. “We just had to push pause for a couple years. We plan to come back bigger and better, and we’re already working on ideas to do that.”

Kim Kelsey and Tyson Beebe, and Bill and A.J. Ervin competed in an unofficial Great Dock Canoe Race on Saturday, May 9, 2020. The Ervins won.

Although there was no event last year, some of the Great Dock Canoe Race’s most decorated paddlers held their own unofficial competition. The father-daughter team of Bill and A.J. Ervin beat Kim Kelsey and Tyler Beebe in an unsanctioned race around Naples Bay.

The Ervins won three of four canoe race championships from 2016-19. Kelsey has competed in every race since 1985 with various partners.