CELEBRATION.
Full of fantastic photos and great stories, Northern Shores celebrates the joys of canoeing in Muskoka and points north. In the process, it is raising funds for a regional treatment centre for children.
Photo by Chris Mayne
MUSKOKA — Some of the region’s top paddle writers and photographers have come together to help fund a children’s treatment centre.
After six years in the planning and production stages, Northern Shores, a coffee-table book of canoeing images and stories, was released just before Christmas.
The 150-page hardcover was edited by Chris Mayne and photographer Paul Chivers, who also contributed a number of his photographs.
The proceeds from the book will be going to One Kids Place, a regional treatment centre for children. The centre, which is located in North Bay, provides a broad range of physical and developmental therapies to children in an area that stretches from South Muskoka through Parry Sound and Almaguin to Temiskaming.
“When the children’s treatment centre was first proposed, it was going to be called Northern Shores, which seemed the ideal name for a book on canoeing,” said Mayne. “At the time I was intending that the book would actually be a fundraiser for the building project. I just didn’t realize how long a project like this can take.”
When local parents first initiated the concept of a regional treatment centre for children, “one of the first things the provincial funders asked about was community support,” Mayne said. “The book was originally intended to help show tangible local support.”
The images and stories in Northern Shores reflects the same geographic area covered by the treatment centre, “essentially the same area that encompasses two of the world’s most popular canoe parks — Algonquin and Temagami,” said Mayne.
The book features the donated work of photographers Darren Makarenko, Andrew Collett, Robert Stimpson, Peter Bowers, Andy Stevens, Jerry Schmanda, Greg McGuinty, and others who have captured not only the unique feel of the canoe experience, but incredible images of the surrounding areas throughout the seasons.
The book has also been supported by national canoeing personalities, including Hap Wilson, Kevin Callan and Becky Mason who, along with area nature writers, have contributed content that bring the photos alive with personal experiences, emotions and memories.
“The first draft was actually ready last year,” Mayne said, “but I didn’t really like it. It just didn’t seem ready to go to print somehow, so from last January to May we focused on trying to ensure we had compiled the best pictures and the most stirring stories.”
Mayne put marketer Bernie Penney in charge of layout and production, while he and Chivers “kept tweaking the photos and making last-minute changes,” he said. The team cut it close: the book arrived from the printer just two days before its launch.
Working with members of the Nipissing Kiwanis Club was a good way to produce the book, said Mayne, who is also club president. “Serving children is the main focus of the Kiwanis Club, and so this book project is a perfect fit,” he said.
Area corporations and business people helped support the project through advertising and sponsored chapters.
“As a result, all publishing costs have been covered so that all proceeds from the sale of the books will go to One Kids Place, specifically in support of their equipment room,” Mayne said.
The equipment room stores wheelchairs, braces and other assistive devices that can be used by children with special mobility needs and returned and reused when possible.
“It was the support of a lot of gifted and dedicated people that have made Northern Shores a reality,” said Mayne.
The book is available at the Algonquin Park Visitor Centre, at Algonquin Outfitters in Huntsville, and at Swift Canoes in Gravenhurst. For more information on Northern Shores, visit the Kiwanis website at www.kiwanisnipissing.com.