Collins Canal Centennial Celebration
Saturday November 3, 2012, 10am
The Bandshell, on the Canal
Washington Avenue and 21st Street
Miami Beach.
Rain location: the 21st St. Recreation Center next door. 
 
Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) and the Collins Park Neighborhood Association (CPNA) present an all-day family event to celebrate the 100th Birthday of the Collins Canal in Miami Beach. Get ready to party like it’s 1912! 
 
Period costume is encouraged, and please decorate your bike or boat! Boaters please see info below. Transit: You can reach the event area on Miami-Dade busses C,L,M,S or 120 to Collins Ave. & 23rd St.; bus 115/117 to Dade Blvd.; or the South Beach Local 25¢ bus to Collins Park. Parking: Miami Beach High School, on Dade Blvd. at Washington Ave. (PENDING) The event gets underway at 10am with ongoing music performances, food vendors, kids’ activities, and guided walking tours by MDPL hourly from 11am to 3 pm. 
 
Since Miami Beach pioneer John Collins originally built the Canal to transport his avocado crops, there will be a class on raising avocados at 10 am at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, on the Canal one block west of the Bandshell. 
 
Kids’ activities at the site will include face painting, a scavenger hunt, and a crafts table. The Miami Beach Regional Library nearby at 227 22nd St. will have Video Gaming for teens from11am to 3pm, and Storytelling for toddlers at 3 pm. 
 
John Collins is expected to drop by the Library at 2 pm! Official ceremony at the Bandshell starts at 4 pm with a talk by John Collins followed by a City Proclamation, Birthday cake, and musical finale by SoBe Institute of the Arts (SoBe Arts). All activities are free, except for food vendors. Boaters: The Canal is a wonderful place to canoe, kayak, or paddleboard! It is not officially part of the event site, but runs alongside it. 
 
The Canal is a public waterway and, as always, boating here is at one’s own risk. Please do not bring jet-skis or other motorcraft! We want this to be a safe & fun experience for kids and everyone else. Besides, it’s a manatee zone. Also, we cannot be responsible for securing your watercraft, so please bring your own locking device if you will be going ashore. 
 
The Canal is about 1 ¼ miles long, from its inlet on Biscayne Bay (just south of the Venetian Causeway) running northeasterly along Dade Boulevard to its outlet on Lake Pancoast, at the south end of Indian Creek. It’s about 40 ft. wide (narrowed by vegetation), a few feet deep, and there are seven bridges with overhead clearance of 4-6 ft. There is unknown debris on the bottom; so wading shoes are a good idea. Tides are fairly strong in the Canal. On Nov. 3 the current will be coming in from the Bay (eastbound) from 5:30 am to about noon, then flowing out again (westbound) from noon to 5:45 pm. Decide how much of a challenge you want! Rentals of canoes, kayaks, and boards are available at South Beach Kayak at 1771 Purdy Ave., near the Bay (southbeachkayak@hotmail.com 305-332-2853). At the other end of the Canal on Lake Pancoast, Beach Boat Rentals (2400 Collins Ave., 305-674-9300) has kayaks and paddleboards and is closer to the event site. Rentals do not come with locks, so bring one if you want to go ashore. Launching: At the west end of the Canal, there is a public launch ramp at the Miami Beach Marine Patrol in Maurice Gibb Park, on the Bay just north of the Venetian Causeway (Purdy Ave & 18th St.). There is a metered parking lot there, and also nearby is the brand-new Sunset Harbor Municipal Garage at 1900 Bay Road. There is also a launch site at the far west end of Lincoln Road, just south of the Canal. Launching at Lake Pancoast, at the east end of the Canal (Collins Ave. & 24th St.) is also easy, and a City parking lot is two blocks away, on 23rd St. There is a small landing platform on the Canal behind the Botanical Garden, just east of Meridian Avenue.