Bob Stopper’s Face Is One You Want to See at 7:30 in the Morning

Erie Canalway greeter and ambassador makes a difference in the lives of boaters … and the community

By John Addyman

It was 7:30 on the last morning of the four-day Peppermint Days celebration in Lyons, a village festival that’s been going on for 33 years.

There were just a few cars moving. A pickleball tournament had taken over one street. Vendors were just getting ready for the day, a fried dough truck one of them.

On the canal, the water was placid and quiet. Four boats had docked and spent the night. The “Nauticlue” was one of the bigger ones and people were stirring inside.

The sun hadn’t hit the water yet; this part of the canal was shadowed by the fire hall above. The air was cool with condensation covering the tables along the port area.

And down a long deep ramp, Bob Stopper, nursing a bad knee, worked his way slowly toward the docked boats.

Stopper, 84, is an official “Erie Canalway greeter and ambassador,” one of eight retired folks in Lyons who share the job.

That means he, or one of his colleagues, is there at the Lyons dock to welcome boats that have pulled in for the night while they navigate this part of the Erie Canal. And those boats come from all over the United State and other countries.

Last year, Lyons welcomed 325-350 boats that stopped for the night. Those boaters shopped in Lyons or grabbed a meal or went to the movies at the historic (and inexpensive) Ohmann Theater or took a bike ride on the Erie trail or toured the village’s historic landmarks.

And Stopper was there to welcome them, something he’s been doing for 15 years after retiring as an English teacher at Newark, a job he’d held for 34 years and an adjunct English and public speaking professor at Finger Lakes Community College, where he’d been for 16 years.

It’s easy to underestimate what he does.

But he and the other greeters do a lot more than say “Hi.”

“I take a lot of pictures,” he explained. “One of the things I do if they’re going through locks at 8:30-9 a.m., I will be there to take pictures of them exiting the lock. They love it because most boaters have very few if any pictures of themselves on their own boat in action.

“I text them immediately or email them. If the boats are coming out of the lock, you’ll see Lock “27” in the photo background. They love that because it automatically identifies who they are, where they are on the canal, what they were doing, what time of the day. They can figure that out by the shadows. That has gone over extremely well. We don’t charge for that. I just happen to do it. It’s good promo and good publicity.

“The camaraderie that results is just out of this world. In all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never seen a boater I didn’t like. They’re so appreciative of what we do.”

The greeters are all senior citizens, all participate in at least three community volunteer organizations and all love what they do.

“And people are so appreciative. They tell us, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this. Oh my, you’re not being paid! You’re not an elected official…’”

On this Saturday morning, Stopper approached the line of boats, waving through the plastic shades at people who were just stirring. He headed for the boat “Scandia” out of Java. Craig Erickson and Don Phillips of Brockport were aboard and sitting in their cabin.

Stopper knew them. He said “Good morning” and showed them what he’d brought for them — fresh funnel cakes in a paper bag, purchased on his walk.

In turn, Phillips offered him some blueberry pancakes. They were canal friends, people who had been through Lyons many times before. Stopper has a long list of them.

“They are the nicest people,” Stopper said. “They have beautiful stories to tell.

“People are fascinated because we don’t just say ‘hello’ and ‘welcome.’ If you need a ride someplace, we usually provide that, like an emergency ride to the local airport. Emergency rides to the mall in Waterloo. We frequently help people, if they’re handicapped, help them get their groceries in Aldi’s or elsewhere. We’ll bring the groceries back to their boat. We frequently take people for parts if they need them, parts for their boats. And, of course, and I think that’s the big thing, we really go out of our way to help the entire community, not just one business but everybody.

“What has happened, with our greeters, several of us get a phone call a couple of days in advance of somebody coming through on their boat. That’s just a special thing on this little canal, for people who are traveling from around the world or other states intending to stop just to see me or one of the other greeters. It’s an emotional sort of thing.”

How did all this greeting get started?

“I was an avid fisherman and became involved in taking pictures while I was fishing on the canal,” Stopper explained. “Jack McCrannels and I were standing at the canal bank in 2009 and a sailboat came through. The people asked us, ‘Where the hell is Lyons, New York?’

“We started laughing and said, ‘You’re in Lyons.’

“The lady said, ‘Please, we’re looking at the map and it says you’re at the next lock somewhere.’” Stopper then added, “That book still says Lyons is at Lock 28A not Lock 27.

That’s the Canal Corporation Tourist Guide — and it’s not the only one that’s incorrect.

“From that point on — Jack and I looked at each other and said, ‘We’ve got to do something,’” he said. “Jerry Ashley from the Main Street Program got involved. We put together a little map and we started welcoming people and taking them around town.

“In 2010, I received a call from John Callahan, deputy director of the Canal Corporation. He said he had noticed I had published some articles on Wayne County life and taken a lot of pictures and could they interest me in helping to promote the canal more?”

The rest is history.

 

Weekend fun on the Erie Canal

Stopper quickly went beyond the expanded welcome the greeters provided.

In 2017, he and Keith Bridger of the Rotary Club put together a special tour of the Erie and Seneca-Cayuga canals, starting at Bob Stivers’ marina near the Canal Park on Seneca Lake.

“Our goal was to get people out on the Erie Canal. We called it the weekend fun on the Erie,” Stopper said. “We charter Bob’s 50-passenger pontoon boat. We come from his marina to Lyons and it’s about a five-hour trip. Along the way people get breakfast on the boat and a bag lunch. I narrate the entire tour. It’s very historical. We also take them to the Montezuma aqueduct, which is probably the most photographed place on the Erie Canal. We usually stop and let people take some pictures if they wish. We come back through Clyde into Lyons, Seneca-Cayuga Canal, then get on the Erie Canal.

“Then we give a local tour, another 2 ½ hours, on Saturday afternoon. We come as far as the dry docks and we keep the boat for the weekend. We’re doing it just two days this year. The big trip costs $85, the afternoon trip is $25.

“Sunday, we take the boat back, the same trip in reverse. There’s a cash bar, a lavatory on board, a couple of surprises and anything else we can come up with. We usually have a special prize — bottle of Tugboat Red wine from Lucas Vineyards — for the oldest person on board or the person who has come the greatest distance. The big thing is the last seven years we’ve sold out, even when we were running it four days on a weekend.”

He feels most of the people who take the longer trip are interested in all the history the tour highlights.

“For the people who select the shorter trip, it’s more of an experience,” he said. “We have a fantastic relationship with Newark and Clyde. We call each other as greeters and tell them ‘This boat is coming through, these bikers are coming through.’ We meet bikers, too, but not to the same extent that we meet boaters.”

Stopper said that the greeters have no set hours.

“Basically from 5 p.m. on, we always try to be at the dock. All of us, if we’re traveling over the bridge or in the area during the day, if we see that a boat has arrived, no matter who we are, whether it’s our night or not, we’ll go down to say ‘hello’ to them.

“And we have kind of a rule of thumb: If people are in a sailboat, they’re looking for water and fresh fruit; if it’s a powerboat, they’re looking for a martini and a steak. What we’re also finding more and more, the first thing people ask is ‘Where is your history?’ They’re looking for history not only of the canal, but of the community. That history is frequently buried on back streets or in buildings that have been torn down.”

At the Lyons dock, there are large posters listing historic sites in the village and environs. The greeters hand out brochures about the history of the Erie Canalway and a large map of 100 miles of the Erie Canal from Medina to Clyde.

Greeters also take some other steps. “When people arrive, we ask why they stopped. If a marina somewhere has recommended us, I take a picture of the boat and I send it to the marina and say, ‘Thanks for recommending us. They arrived safely.’

“I do the same thing with the great loop boats that come through, I take a picture and send it to the director, Kim Russo, and say they’ve arrived and say they know you. She always responds. I think it’s the kind of quiet communications we do. I think it’s working for us very, very well.”

The great loop boats are making a 6,000-mile cruise through the Eric Canal and Great Lakes, down through Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, then up the Atlantic coast to the Hudson River and New England and St. Lawrence Seaway.

Last year, 44 looper boats stopped in Lyons. “That’s extremely good for our community,” Stopper said. “I knew half of them.

“For many of the loopers, this is the teaspoon of their bucket list. Some of them are well-to-do, but some have really scraped to make the journey possible. You can spend 10 minutes with them or three hours. That’s how interesting it is to talk to these people.”

Stopper’s big heart provided a moment that he’ll never forget and has helped cement the kindness and care legend of the Lyons canal port welcome.

“I went down to the dock one morning eight years ago. I asked the gentleman in one boat, ‘Is everything OK?’ He said his wife was a little emotional this morning. They had been out at sea for a long time. They had just found they were going to be grandparents. Their daughter had had two previous miscarriages. This time she was five months pregnant and she figured she was at a safe point and had just told Mom and Dad. Mom was beyond herself. So I called John Albanase, the lock tender. I said, ‘Pick some flowers that you have outside.’

“I have a picture of that, of him handing the flowers to that lady. Fast-forward eight years and we’re still getting Christmas cards from them…’Here’s our daughter…here’s our grandson…here’s grandson number two…here’s grandson number three — we’ll never forget you.’ We make a difference. That’s the biggest thing. There’s no doubt in my mind, we make a difference. That’s what we’re  here for, to help each other as much as we can.”