Group lobbies council to cancel Poker Run
By Mark Kerr
Kingston Heritage EMC March 5 2009
A group of local residents is trying to persuade city council and the downtown business improvement area to stop supporting the 1000 Islands Poker Run.
Sustainable Practices Leave a Sustainable Heritage (SPLASH) argues there are more environmentally-friendly events that should be held during the summer instead of the poker run.
"Our goal is to persuade city hall to support the planning and execution of an alternative to the poker run," said SPLASH member Guy Oram.
The poker run has ocurred in the 1000 Islands for the past 20 summers. For the last eight years,
According to Poker Runs America event administrator Bruce Crowder, Kingston has served as the host community for the event.
Anywhere from 50 to 100 power boats visit Kingston and the surrounding area during the poker run weekend in August. The boats navigate a charted course and make five stops along the route to pick up playing cards. The team with the best poker hand at the end of the tour is declared the winner.
SPLASH argues that the annual poker run has a significant environmental cost because of the carbon dioxide and noise pollution emitted by the power boats.
"We think the poker run conflicts with Kingston's vision to become Canada's most sustainable city,” Oram said.
Crowder doesn't deny the power boats consume fuel and impact the environment. However, in the opinion of the Poker Runs America event administrator, the poker run has a smaller environmental impact relative to other summer entertainment events in Kingston.
"Who plays God and decides what entertainment is viable and what's not? Should we stop the Snowbirds? They destroy more ozone and create more CO2 emissions than our boats," he said.
Crowder said the high visibility of the power boats in Confederation Basin and along the waterfront has resulted in unfair targeting of the 1000 Islands Poker Run.
"We have become the favourite whipping boy, but we use far, far less fuel than anyone else."
SPLASH and Crowder have different views on the extent of the environmental impact of the poker run. In their literature, SPLASH states that the poker run emissions "could accumulate to an entire year's worth of Kingston vehicle idling emissions in just 16 hours." Crowder said the power boats have a small impact because they only operate for three to four hours during the weekend.
Noise pollution is another concern for SPLASH. The group said the power boats put damaging second-hand noise into the environment without the permission or consent of the community.
Oram said the growing awareness of the environment in recent years indicates that SPLASH's concerns and requests are not farfetched.
"These issues are sufficiently in the mainstream and not on the fringe. We are proud of what we are doing," he said. "We are trying to think and act locally.
"We want the city to wise up and support something more sustainable," he added.
SPLASH has suggested four alternative events that it would like the city and Downtown Kingston to consider instead of the 1000 Islands Poker Run. The group met with Doug Ritchie, managing director of Downtown Kingston! BIA, and suggested a festival to celebrate non-motorized water activities, a pirate-themed festival, an eco-Irish festival, or a Kingston homecoming festival modeled on Gala Day on Toronto Island that takes place every year.
Crowder argued that if Kingston decided not to host the poker run, the city would have a difficult time offsetting the economic loss. He said the poker run brings in 50,000 spectators. Crowder said poker run participants come from all over North America and spend money at Kingston's hotels, restaurants and bars.
"The alternatives tend to be localized events and they will not have the same economic spinoffs," Crowder said. "I could be wrong, but I doubt it."
SPLASH was at last year's poker run. The group set up an information booth and passed out 400 postcards detailing the negative aspects of the poker run. The group asked that the postcards be mailed to city hall. The group has also engaged in a letter writing campaign to councillors asking them to reconsider the event.
Crowder said the 1000 Islands Poker Run will go ahead with or without Kingston as the host city.
"If Kingston doesn't want it, it will go elsewhere in the 1000 Islands. It's going to continue to happen somewhere in the 1000 Islands."
From Kingston EMC, March 5 2009