Paddlers and musicians came together this past weekend in Gaston County for a float and a show on what is set to be North Carolina’s next state trail. Local country band Hiram warmed up in the shadow of North Carolina Highway 7, a stone’s throw from the boat launch.
Jacob Clawson plays guitar. He said he just hoped the whole contraption underpinning the floating stage would stay afloat from Cramerton to McAdenville.
This was their second time playing this venue — that is, the middle of the South Fork River. Hiram was the inaugural floating band three years ago. The band sits in fishing chairs mounted to three whitewater rafts, which, in turn, are strapped to a central johnboat. A black tower of speakers rises from its hull — a little like a floating bluegrass Mad Max.
Catawba Riverkeeper Brandon Jones made final preparations before launch.
“Every year we’ve refined it based on what the musicians want, what’s more convenient,” Jones said. The first year, they built a floating stage, but sometimes the simpler solution works best.
The band finished sound check. A zodiac at the rear pushed the makeshift barge into the middle of the river, and the concert began.
“I’d say we use this event more for friend-raising than fundraising,” said Jenny Moore, the Catawba Riverkeeper’s director of development. “It’s really about getting people out on the water to have this incredible experience.”
The North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill, signed by the governor, to recognize the South Fork Passage as a state trail. That includes this section that the concert-goers are paddling down. The hope is that the additional protections offered by the state trail designation will improve water quality in the South Fork and downstream.
There’s another bill aimed at cleaning up not just the South Fork, but all rivers across the state.
“This bill is all about parking lot reform,” said Ryan Carter, the nonprofit’s policy director. “Parking lots lead to runoff, and runoff is the number one source of pollution in our state — not just our basin.”
The bill would eliminate mandatory parking lot minimums to reduce the amount of impermeable surfaces in towns and cities. Those surfaces, like large parking lots, create more runoff in nearby waterways.
“The number one question we get is, ‘Is it safe to swim?’” Carter said. “And when we say, ‘No,’ people ask why. That’s the big why. Because of sedimentation and pollution and because of runoff.”
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