Dozens of self-proclaimed boatnerds gathered last Thursday at Sherman Park in Sault Ste. Marie for their annual pre-Engineers Day picnic.
Engineers Day itself was Friday, June 28, at the Soo Locks.
This was their 26th picnic since it started in the late '90s.
In case you didn't know, boatnerds are a unique group of people, young and the young at heart, who love freighters. They chase them down and take videos and pictures of them with others on social media.
But it is so much more about the freighters. It's about connecting with people.
Lee Rowe, 81, helped start the first boatnerd gathering with only a few people attending. Thursday's picnic welcomed in around 80.
"Once we get the friendships, it just continues. It's not this one time of the year. It's a gathering of friends. When we come and post on Facebook, it says we are going to see our friends and ships. And that's really what boatnerds are about. It's about the friends. They are just very nice. Boatnerds are good people," Rowe said.
Angie Williams, who lives near Detroit, helped organized this year's picnic.
"We like to say that we come up for Engineers Day and the boats, but we stay for the people. I have been doing this for 20 years and we all have made life-long friends. It's fun for me because back in the day, I was a newbie and now I am not a newbie. I am one of 'oldsters'. It's neat. It's a multi-generational atmosphere who love boats," Williams said.
It was an extra special day for Rowe, too.
She was presented with a caricature of herself, done by Great Lakes cartoonist Don Lee, in honor of her years of involvement with the annual boatnerd picnic.
