Waterfire Providence®, an award
winning sculpture that is installed on the rivers of downtown Providence, has
been a very popular event, drawing huge crowds for many years. Unfortunately,
people with disabilities have always had a difficult time enjoying the full
effect of Waterfire due to the large crowds that gather along the rivers and
the cobblestone surfaces on the river walks.
Barnaby Evans, the creative force behind Waterfire® has been committed to
making his event accessible to everyone and has been working with the PART Independent
Living Center and other representatives of the disability community (OSCIL and
the Fogarty Center) to improve accessibility. As a result of these efforts,
some exciting changes have occurred that should help address some of the access
issues.
At every Waterfire® from this point forward an accessible riverboat will
be available to take people with disabilities onto the river itself to get an
up close view of the fires without having to fight the crowds and the cobblestones,
free of charge. The boat is available one half hour before the
lighting of the fires and approximately every half hour for the rest of the
evening while the fires are burning. This boat has space for up to two power
wheelchairs or three to four manual wheelchairs per trip. There are two tie
down systems in place for those that request them. There are also deck chairs
available for non-wheelchair users and companions of wheelchair users. The total
capacity of the boat is approximately 10 people. The trip itself lasts approximately
30 minutes and goes from the Dyer Street dock up the river to the Waterplace
Basin and then returns.
Upcoming Waterfire® dates:
September 6th & 20th, and October 4th & 18th. For more information check
out their website at www.waterfire.com.
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| Waterfire in front of RISD. Picture courtesy of www.waterfire.com |
TechACCESS of RI
Last Revised: September 3, 2003