On January 6, 1999, then-Ohio Congressman Rob Portman stood before his colleagues in the US House of Representatives to pay tribute to one of Cincinnati’s “finest citizens.” He was speaking about longtime Kooch-i-ching Director John Holden, who had recently succumbed to cancer at the age of 75.

This summer, Phil Winger, a master builder from the Minneapolis-based Urban Boatbuilders, will teach campers to construct expedition style skin-on-frame canoes that will replace some of the aging Nova Craft in our fleet.