Blog Guelph: The Wind and The Watershed

Speed Reader, a photo by PhotoFinish001 on Flickr.

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.

― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

Rivers represent so much more than watershed. They are a metaphor for our lives – the journey from one origin to one destination.  They ebb and flow with the seasons, they are calm and rough with the winds, they are bright and dark with the sky, they absorb and reflect, take in and give back. They even change and evolve.

Guelph is almost synonymous with its rivers. And like the rivers, it is changing in the wind.

Some people think it’s a watershed moment – the heart of our city becoming urbanized by high towers and big corporate development.

But at the heart of that watershed are our rivers the Speed and the Eramosa – two of the four major tributaries of the Grand River that flows into Lake Erie. For centuries, those rivers have run through this land - provided water, food, industry, and brought families together. Recently they’ve brought together our neighbours and community.  Check out the Greenway Actions Living Rivers page.

We have the opportunity to celebrate the really profound legacy of our rivers this week – I hope you’ll take time to check out the 2 Rivers Festival. As part of this festival tomorrow, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the covered bridge which spans the point where the Eramosa joins the Speed River.

It is much more than a meeting of two rivers. It is much more than the wind and the watershed.

It is about us. It is about Guelph.

~ Aidan M.D. Ware