Brockport eager to celebrate its lift bridges and canal legacy

Editor:

Hats off to editor Tom Rivers for his February 3 editorial and ideas on celebrating Orleans County’s lift bridges.

We in Brockport, could not agree more about the iconic value of our two lift bridges and their greater 100+ years significance to our community.

Brockport is twinned with Albion on lift bridge rehabilitation, being part of the same contract with Crane-Hogan. Rehabilitation of our Main Street lift bridge will begin in April 2023.

Our public meeting with the DOT to announce the April closure will take place on February 9 at Brockport’s Seymour Library from 6 to 8 p.m. Leading up to the bridge closure in Albion Brockport and Albion have shared information about events, traffic, and marketing and many of us in Brockport watched the live feed of the lifting of the trusses off the Albion bridge.

This year, Brockport will be celebrating our bicentennial when the canal ended in Brockport for two years as it was being completed to Buffalo. We’ll acknowledge our 200 years on the Erie Canal at our annual canal opening celebration, Low Bridge High Water, on Saturday June 10th with kayaking, music, food, and other family friendly activities.

On that occasion we will also be dedicating an historic community museum panel commemorating the Park Avenue lift bridge which was completed in 1913 and is one of the very few lift bridges on the canal still operating with all its historic parts. A similar panel for the Main Street lift bridge will be dedicated in 2024 when the bridge reopens.

Editor Rivers’ lift bridge festival is a terrific idea. Why not expand it into neighboring Monroe County to include Brockport, Adams Basin, Spencerport, and Fairport? Boaters would love it!

Margay Blackman

Mayor of Brockport