 The dragon vote festival races were not the only rowing event happening on Saturday it wasn't as a canoe day was held being held in Brainerd. Our Anthony Scott has that story. It was a rainy morning for the Mississippi Headwaters Board canoe day but that didn't stop people from coming out and enjoying the river. It's great to see so many other people out here. The rain isn't a big deal. If you're gonna get wet you're gonna get wet so it doesn't really matter. The Mississippi Headwaters Board puts on canoe day every year for people to really take in and enjoy what Minnesota has to offer. It's really a social event but its purpose is to explore the natural values of the Mississippi and then of course at the end you get to see the cultural values because there's a lot of cultural resources on the Mississippi. The river is something that can get left out with all of Minnesota's beautiful landmarks. A lot of us Minnesotans when we think of Minnesota we think of the land of 10,000 lakes but really if you ask some people in other states the first thing they learn about is it's the headwaters of the Mississippi River. So it's just kind of interesting and we wanted to explore and get people to understand some of that unique resource that we have here. Canoers and kayakers set out from Cowayna State Park and they will head down the mighty Mississippi River ending at the Crow Wing State Park and approximately two and a half hour journey. We see the river all the time when we drive over it so it's kind of fun to see it from being on the river as opposed to looking down onto it. It's a really pretty way to see the area. It's combined a recreational activity with some educational opportunities. Members of the DNR educated people on aquatic invasive species and they taught people how to decontaminate your boat or kayak. Then at the end of the journey there was a fur trade encampment. When you get off the river you can look and see how the pioneers did it back in that day and then at the beginning we kind of put a book in there where you can learn about water quality. The rain didn't stop people from coming out to Canoeday and it sure won't stop them from preserving the rivers and lakes. People just want to preserve their lakes and that's a great feeling that all Minnesotans are proud of. Reporting from Brainerd, Anthony Scott, Lakeland News. And to learn more about Canoeday and the Mississippi Headwaters Board you can visit this story on our website at lptv.org slash news. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.