Tall stacks 2009

I have not heard anything about a TallStacks '09, '10 or '11. 2009 would not be an ideal year, since all 3 queens probably won't be operating until at least 2010. I hope TS will happen again, and I hope the focus will remain on the river, and not so much on unrelated activities!

I just had a brainstorm. How about this....someone or some organization charters the DELTA QUEEN to take to Tall Stacks 2009. The boat has a COI, and can get excursion permits for the days of TS. Hundreds of folks can come aboard and ride the old gal, and a wonderful way to publicize her plight. With the numbers that TS attracts, this might be just the impetus to get things going our way for a permanent exemption. Cincinnati is the perfect venue for this.

Like when Betty Blake vowed all the supporters woudl have a chance to ride the boat, thiis would allow (albeit briefly) a ride on the old DQ. It could introduce a whole new generation to the joys of steamboating and the DQ herself. Not easy, but not the hardest thing that's ever been done, either. Cooments? Suggestions? And feel free to shoot it down if I have missed something obvious!

As far as I know there will not be another Tall Stacks. If there is, I hope the next bunch are betterthan the last. They wanted the boats to work for peanuts keep most of the money for themselves. After the event they took forever to pay. There was nothing non-prfit about this last bunch!

I was disappointed in the last Tall Stacks, as it was primarily all about the performing acts rather than the riverboats. I had emailed the Tall Stacks committee about the possibility of expanding the small whistle blow on the barge Anna Marie to include steam whistles from members of the group that I moderate at steam-whistles : Steam Whistles I even went as far as writing Guenter Pansch of Lunkenheimer to sponsor the event. I never received as much as a no thank you to my proposal. At least with my proposal you would have heard more of the sounds of the steam age rather than the overwheming sound of the performing acts at the event.

On attending, the most evident sound was that of the musical acts on the serpentine wall, followed by an occasional cannon blast from the Newport levee across the river, followed by a number of air horns and finally a few steam whistles, which were definitely in the minority, being only on a few of the boats. This is a shame, since the traditional sound of the riverboat is the sound of a steam whistle and the sound of the whistles of the steam calliope.

With each passing generation, fewer and fewer steam whistles are available for the younger people to see and hear. This will worsen if we lose our beloved Delta Queen, Mississippi Queen and American Queen. If this trend continues, I fear many of our children and grandchildren may grow up never knowing this wonderful sound. That would be most unfortunate.

Richard: I agree with you. The committee is unresponsive to queries and maintained a phone which stayed off the hook day and night...maybe still does. I don't know what the rules were but I got called down by the Coast Guard for blowing my whistle in MISSIE to signal a turn out of a line of traffic. Bob Reynolds might enlighten us here as he was the harbor master and I suspect that there were strict rules about when and where whistles might be blown and calliopes played. I know that I was in a pilot house a bit below the harbor when the calliope aboard started up and the steam was shut off to prevent it from continuing, after which a spirited conversation ensued between the pilot and the perfessor. As an outsider and interloper just wanting to be part of the event, I was not privy to any of the rules of the road that may have been visited upon the participant boats as to creating confusion in a tightly controlled venue where safety HAS to prevail. I saw enough near things to make me appreciate that. We have even had a participating boat sink during one of the Tall Stack events (not the last one). I, too would like to see more river-related events and less shore-based entertainment, whistles included but with safetyCap'n Walnut

Thanks for your response Tom. You can tell from the homepage of Tall Stacks 2006 where their priorities lie-the on shore entertainment!
Tall Stacks Music Arts & Heritage Festival
You have to go to another page to even find the riverboats, much less the sound of their whistles and calliopes. We need to get someone on this committee who actually appreciates the riverboats and the sound of steam whistles and calliopes-the reason Tall Stacks began in the first place. The earlier Tall Stacks celebrations adhered more to this and were spectacular! The last Tall Stacks committee tried to turn it into a rock concert and you see where we are now.

Tom Schiffer;14433 wrote: Richard: I agree with you. The committee is unresponsive to queries and maintained a phone which stayed off the hook day and night...maybe still does.