Rowboats to return to Hoyt Lake later this month
In addition, ice skating will be allowed in the winter
Delaware Park’s Hoyt Lake has long been off limits to people wanting to take a boat ride in the summer or ice skate in the winter.
That’s about to change.
The Olmsted Parks Conservancy will officially reintroduce five rowboats and one paddle boat June 27 and plans to allow skating in the winter after the ice is frozen solid enough to make it safe.
“There is a huge nostalgia in this town around boating on Hoyt Lake, and it’s one of the most enjoyable ways to spend time in Delaware Park,” said Thomas Herrera-Mishler, the conservancy’s president and chief executive officer.
He said Olmsted envisioned in his original design a boating launch platform and boat landings around the perimeter of the lake. Early photos show large numbers of people boating on the lake, Herrera-Mishler said.
Recreational boating stopped being offered at the lake during the 1950s because of pollution. It was briefly reintroduced in 2002, and the lake has been used since for demonstrations of solar-powered craft.
The rowboats and paddle boat will be provided by Buffalo State College’s Maritime Center and made available for rental from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, into September.
Cost will be $10 a half hour, with conservancy members entitled to an hour free.
The return of ice skating — absent for years with the exception of the annual Winterfest event — is also something that the public has long sought and the Conservancy is eager to bring back, Herrera-Mishler said.
“We are all for it if we can do it safely. The only issue is with global warming, because the lake does not freeze as solidly as it used to,” Herrera-Mishler said. “If the ice is thick enough, we will welcome skaters on Hoyt Lake this winter.”
The conservancy monitored the lake last winter, and the results weren’t encouraging.
“It didn’t freeze deeply enough for us to feel safe,” Herrera- Mishler said.
He said it was possible sections of the lake considered safe could be used for ice skating, with other areas placed off limits.
Public works officials have voiced money and manpower concerns in the recent past concerning the monitoring of the area, assessing the ice’s thickness and clearing snow.
Returning ice skating has been a goal of Delaware Council Member Michael J. LoCurto.
Ice skating once came to a halt more than 20 years ago after then-Buffalo Parks Commissioner Robert E. Delano ordered the dumping of hundreds of gallons of calcium chloride, a toxic, de-icing compound, into the lake in the winter of 1986-87.
Delano, who served time in federal prison for his criminal actions, reportedly was angry at the Common Council for shutting a refreshment stand in the park casino operated by members of a private social club run by some Parks Department employees.
The casino’s boathouse is to be restored by the city, while the casino’s lower level, damaged by a flood in 2004, has been repaired thanks to a grant from the Rupp Family Foundation and will serve as the location for rowboat rentals, Herrera- Mishler said.
Two vendors, one of them selling sandwiches and salads, and the other selling gelato, a type of sherbet, are expected to be working at Hoyt Lake this summer, Herrera-Mishler said.
