Fenton Hanchett, of Camillus, is this year’s recipient of the Canalway Trail Tender Award.
Hanchett, who has been a member of the statewide volunteer Canalway Trails Association board since its formation in 1999, was “terribly pleased” to be recognized. Hanchett cycles along the Erie Canal towpath to meetings at Camillus Erie Canal Park whenever possible.
“It’s an honor that only comes to one person a year and across the state we have many, many people who, in my judgment, could just as well have qualified for it,” he said.
The award was presented to Hanchett by Canal Corporation Director Carmella Mantello during a reception at the 2010 World Canals Conference in Rochester in September.
“Volunteers are extremely important to the success of the Canalway Trail program,” Mantello said. “Fenton Hanchett’s dedication and participation, in particular, have been an inspiration for us all.”
Parks & Trails New York Executive Director Robin Dropkin said today’s Canalway Trail “is a result of visionaries like Fenton who long-ago recognized the trail’s potential and dedicated their time and considerable talents to bring those dreams to reality.”
Hanchett helped work out the logistics and design of the trail in 1997 when he joined eight cyclists in the first 400-mile Canalway Trail Trek bicycle tour from Buffalo to Albany. He was 74 years old at the time.
“It was the only opportunity I had to do it so I joined them,” he said. “It was a great experience.”
As a result of that first trek, Parks & Trails New York started the “Cycle the Erie Canal” tour, which attracts more than 500 cyclists from all over the world each July. Hanchett has supported the tour year after year by helping to set up a rest stop for the cyclists at the Camillus Erie Canal Park.
“The reward is the people who use it,” Hanchett said. “That’s why we do it. It’s just great to see 500 bicyclists come through in one day going across the state. That doesn’t happen every day.”
Hanchett also helped found the Camillus Canal Society and served as a vice-president and assistant director of the Camillus Erie Canal Park.
“Fenton orchestrated the gardens at the Camillus Erie Canal Park and visitors often remark of their beauty,” said the park’s director, Dave Beebe.
Hanchett serves on the board of directors of the Canal Society of New York State and was actively involved with the recent restoration of the Nine-Mile Creek Aqueduct in Camillus, “often astounding the engineers with his precise measurements and water flow calculations,” Beebe said.
Hanchett’s recognition comes toward the end of his career as the trail’s keeper; he is currently looking for “a bicyclist who enjoys the trail” to take over surveillance of its Central New York region.
Hanchett said one of the Canalway Trail’s best segments is right in Camillus, a beautifully shaded, well kept bike trail.
“You can bicycle from here to Port Byron in probably about 45 minutes,” he said. Because it goes along the path of the Erie Canal, the trail provides a uniquely flat ride across an otherwise hilly New York State. “It’s really a great asset to the community,” he added.
Fenton often asks bicyclists how the trail rides, with the hope that he can help make it better.
“If there’s a problem, mud and so forth, or an opening because of overgrowth, they’ll find a road to go around it, and we’d rather not have them do that,” he said.