Kirk Wipper’s struggle to piece together the world’s greatest collection of c a n o e s
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KIRK WIPPER IS LIKE A FIREFLY—visibly shining, but hard to catch. When I finally caught up with him after weeks of pursuit he had just returned from the annu- al Fiddlers on the Tobique in New Brunswick. As Hon- orary Patron, he led the parade of 1,500 canoes and almost as many musicians playing fiddles, mandolins and banjos down the beautiful Tobique River in the central highlands of northern New Brunswick. Before the Tobique he had been a guest speaker at the an- nual Maine Canoe Symposium, and on the interven- ing weekend he had led 60 canoes down Ontario’s Trent River, a new event he had helped to instigate in 2003 to raise money for the World Food Bank. It’s a busy schedule for an octogenarian to main-
tain, but Kirk doesn’t seem to tire. Kirk modestly takes advantage of every canoeing opportunity that his status as the world’s greatest canoe col- lector brings him. Though his name is inextrica-
bly linked to a museum collection, there’s nothing hushed or sedate about Kirk’s love of canoeing. In the past 10 years he has found enough time away from festivals and events to canoe—or raft—some of North America’s great rivers, including the The- lon, Tatshenshini, Alsek, Nahanni, and, wildest of all, the Naranjo in Costa Rica. Canoes have been the centrepiece of much of
Kirk’s life, but it was not always that way. Growing up on a pioneer farm in the Inter-lake district of central Manitoba, the son and grandson of German immigrants, there was nary a canoe in sight. Living close to nature on a farm carved out of the north- ern bush, he learned early about hard work, frugal- ity and optimism. Having left Germany to escape the militarism growing out of the rising nationalist fervour, his parents also instilled in him a deep and abiding love of Canada. Continued on next page—
Kirk Wipper believes canoes should never get dusty. CANOE ROOTS n 29
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