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Batteau.org
Home of the James River Batteau Festival

These pages are from the 2010 season.
Have fun looking back at last year's photos, etc.

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IMPORTANT MEETING TO DISCUSS BATTEAU FESTIVAL & VC&NS COMMITTEE
From Ralph Smith, Chairman JRBF

Saturday January 29th at 11:00am at the 330 Restaurant in Scottsville.

This is not a general meeting, however, Ralph is asking that each batteau program endeavor to send at least 1 representative to the meeting. Others wanting to attend are welcomed also but again it is not the general meeting.

The subject of the meeting will be to discuss the structure of the batteau festival as a part of the VCNS, including and not limited to how we will select our chairman for next year and for the future.

Individuals who are wanting to be considered for the chairman/woman position are
encouraged to email Ralph Smith at Ralph@hipeak.com and also to attend the meeting, it is probable that we will select the chairman/woman for the 2011 festival at this meeting.

Anyone wanting to see changes made for the 2011 festival should attend the meeting or have someone put forward their suggested change.

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Monday January 10th. Update:
Email received from Buddy High regarding the Tasty Critters.

Aubrey Lister, a good friend and one of the leaders of the Tasty Critters which helped so many years @ the Maiden's Landing site for the James River Batteau Festival, passed away on Friday night 1/07/11 after a battle with bone cancer. His love of the festival and the boy scouts will be greatly missed. His memorial service will be at Rosewood-Kellum Funeral Home located @ 601 N Witchduck Rd, Virginia Beach, Va. on Wednesday 1/12/11 @ 7PM.

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Batteau Family News Updates

Updated November 28th: Betsy Healey, Captain of "The Lady's Slipper".

As you know Betsy had a stroke recently, but today Gail Timberlake wrote and said: "She is recovering at a remarkable rate - Walking w/o a cane and just doing great."

Cards will be appreciated:
Betsy Healey, 29 Church Street Cartersville, VA 23027.

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Many Thanks to Buddy High, his wife Jean,
and all his extended family for a job well done!

Buddy High (right) with his crew in Galt's Mill 2010

To: All members of the VCNS and JRBF
From: Ralph Smith

As some of you may not be aware, Buddy High successfully completed his current elected term of office as Chairman of the JRBF and gracefully declined to run again at the fall meeting on September 18th. Buddy did the honorable thing and served his office well all the way until our traditional time of elections at the fall meeting of the JRBF. Buddy has served as Chairman for many years as well as during that time also holding the position of VCNS Chairman for several years.

I am sure that everyone who has enjoyed the JRBF and VCNS over the years, joins me in a heartfelt thank you to Buddy for the time and energy he has given to the festival. During his time in office the festival has seen unmatched growth in the size of the batteau fleet as well as unmatched increases in our financial security. When Buddy became Chairman, we were lucky to end the year with a thousand dollars in reserve and the batteau fleet was hovering in the low teens. During June 2010 as we celebrated the 25th year of the festival, we had 25 boats (at least in Lynchburg) and we now have a financial security which we've never enjoyed before. A large part of this is due to Buddy's efforts and we all should be very appreciative of his hard work and success. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Jean who has worked tirelessly for the festival working the booth and helping Buddy on festival business. We also thank all of Buddy's family and friends for all of their continued support.

As we move forward we all need to give thought as to how to keep our beloved festival healthy, and who is willing and able to lead as we move into our next 25 years. As we celebrate this wonderful period of time, method of transportation, and the friendships the Batteau Festival has provided us, we need to be mindful that it's a fragile balancing act to keep the festival meeting everyone's needs and expectations.

Prior to the end of 2010, we will have a meeting where we can discuss the future of the festival and elect a chairperson to lead us. I look forward to seeing each batteau program represented at this meeting.

Sincerely,

Ralph Smith
Acting Chairman
(Vice-Chairman while Buddy was Chairman)

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The Rock Moving Crew!
Photos © 2010 by Holt Messerly, all rights reserved.
Click here to see Photos of the river trip.

2010 Fall Picnic/Meeting a Success

The Fall Meeting/Picnic was held on September 18th at Wingina. The weather was perfect and we extend our many thanks to the Wood family of Wingina for letting us camp on their property.

The Meeting was held by Buddy High. Many ideas were talked about regarding the festival and how costs continue to rise and ideas for fundraising etc. Ellen Blankenship our Treasurer, and Betsy Healy our Secretary were elected for another year of service. Buddy High completed his current year of service and has retired, declining to run for another term so he can spend more time with his family. Many thanks to Buddy for his many years of service to the Batteau Festival. Ralph Smith the current Vice-Chairman is now the acting Chairman until such time that a committee meeting can be held to elect a new Chairman of the Batteau Festival. The Festival is in experienced hands as Ralph has been Chairman before and has many of us that wear various hats around to help who have been working with various aspects of the festival for years.

The meal after the meeting was great. Buddy's BBQ was a big hit and all the other items people brought were really good too.

As the evening progressed a nice bonfire was lit and a circle of chairs formed for what became one of the nicest times camping by the river that you can imagine. Music and good times extended well into the night. A good number of people stayed and camped out.

On Sunday morning Roger Nelson and Holt Messerly cooked up bacon and sausage and eggs and many good leftovers from the night before such as bananna pudding were served too.

After breakfast a big group of batteau captains and crews took canoes and kayaks up-river to a private put-in beside the Tye River. (Many thanks to the Fluvanna Crew for such a great number of men and women participating!) The group proceeded to the old Dam (first rapid past Tye River) and Roger Nelson pointed out the old timbers and spikes still in the river and being so low and clear you could see these artifacts clearly. Roger mentioned the canal lock beside the dam but said it would be best to see it after a good frost as there is much poison ivy, etc.

The group then went to the second rapid past the Tye. This rapid is well known among the batteau crews as being nearly impossible to get through in low water. However, there is an old sluice on river-right behind a small island and the goal of this trip was to move some big rocks out of the way so a batteau can get by in this low water. This effort was successful! The sluice is going to be great and we will have to make sure to remove any logs that may get stuck in it to keep it flowing free. Click here to see photo gallery.

As the group proceeded down-river we stopped on a nice beach for lunch and then continued on to Wingina. Along the way, Berne Nelson demonstrated how to eat Paw Paws. The native fruit is ripening and falling off the trees.

This weekend ended nicely as a few of us took down the last of the campsite and made sure to straighten up and leave nothing behind. We love Wingina and really really are thankful that we have this site when we need it. Thanks again to the Woods! Holt Messerly .

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25th Anniversary Group Shot in Cartersville
Prints available 4x12 inches (special size)

The 25th Annual Batteau Festival Group Photo
is available in a special 4" x 12" size. Three copies are
still available. $20 each.
Email Holt at holtm@messerlyphoto.com for more information.

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The video below is on u-tube. Roger Nelson told about it at the fall picnic and it is really good. Thank you to NelsonCountyLife.com for producing it. I felt like everyone should hear Roger singing about the low water. This is Classic stuff here!

Note: If you have trouble playing this due to your internet speed, START PLAYING, THEN CLICK ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT WHERE IT SAYS "720P" AND CHANGE TO A SMALLER NUMBER. You can also start playing the video and then pause it while the downloading gets a chance to get further on the light red bar, then hit play again.

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Check out this cool issue of Nelson County Life
with an Article on the Batteau Festival: