ANGELS CAMP, Calif. – To mark the 30th anniversary of the filling of the Stanislaus River Canyon, which flooded a unique limestone river canyon that used to attract over 70,000 rafters, hikers and other visitors every summer, the “Spirit of the Stanislaus” event is planned for Angels Camp on Sunday, June 7.
The event will be held at Utica Park between 2:30 and 6 p.m., with live music, food and beverage vendors, speakers and a raffle to benefit Friends of the River (FOR), the event’s official sponsor. An evening showing of historic and contemporary river films, including the recent IMAX film “Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk,” will conclude the day’s festivities, from 7 to 9 p.m.
The grassroots effort to preserve the Stanislaus River spanned the 1970s, and included ballot initiatives, lawsuits and court hearings, public information campaigns and congressional legislation, all of which contributed to the founding of Friends of the River in 1973. The movement was brought about by the construction of New Melones Dam, whose reservoir waters inundated the Stanislaus River canyon despite strong local opposition.
By 1979, tens of thousands of volunteers had been drawn into the struggle to save the Stanislaus. The fight culminated when Friends of the River co-founder Mark Dubois chained himself in the canyon with the promise to drown if the filling continued, in late May 1979. His action drew national media attention, and led to a temporary stay in the reservoir’s rising waters. Dubois and FOR advocated a compromise fill level that would have permitted the continuance of the river run and the preservation of the canyon while still allowing the reservoir to serve its other purposes.
Music from local groups will headline the afternoon’s entertainment, and beer, wine and food from local vendors will be available. Other sponsors of the event will have informational booths at the park. Raffle tickets will be sold throughout the week, culminating in the 6 pm raffle awards.
The day will end with a movie night at the Elliott Smart Performing Arts Center at Bret Harte High, with the screening of two historic films from the 1970s about the Stanislaus, “Lady of the Mother Lode” and “Parrott’s Ferry is the Limit”.
As an added feature, the recent movie “Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk” will be screened. Originally released in IMAX 3-D format, the film is narrated by Robert Redford, and follows river advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., writer Wade Davis, and their families in an informative journey down the Colorado River, in traditional boats from Grand Canyon Dories. O.A.R.S. of Angles Camp was involved in the field production of the film, which includes music by the popular Dave Matthews Band. (The movie in this non-commercial presentation will not be shown in IMAX format, due to the limitations of the theater.)
“We don’t see this as a reunion or a trip down memory lane,” said event organizer Christian Kallen, an author and filmmaker who lived in Angels Camp for many years. “It’s a celebration of the river’s power over the people it touched, and maybe a vision for the renewal of the river’s role for the next generation.”
In addition to Friends of the River, other event sponsors include Outdoor Adventure River Specialists (O.A.R.S.) of Angels Camp; All Outdoors Whitewater Rafting of Walnut Creek, Zephyr Whitewater Expeditions of Columbia; and Sierra Nevada Adventure Center (SNAC) of Arnold, Calif. Environmental Traveling Companions (ETC) and Foothill Conservancy are also supporters of the event. MacGillivray Freeman Films of Laguna Beach contributed the screening of their film.
For more information about the event and the issues surrounding river preservation, visit the website at www.friendsoftheriver.org/spirit.