Lovingly restored 1927 canoe in raffle for Great Mountain Forest

NORFOLK — On a recent morning, Jody Bronson, forest manager of the Great Mountain Forest in Falls Village and Norfolk, showed a visitor a gleaming, restored 1927 Old Town canoe at the forestry office in Norfolk.It’s a remarkable sight, especially for those used to the more mundane fiberglass or aluminum versions.Inside of the canoe is highly varnished mahogany, a floor deck that is removable and a movable backrest.“That’s for the lady in the long dress and the big summer hat who’s reading poetry or something to the guy paddling,” quipped Bronson, who then confessed he hadn’t had much sleep the night before.The canoe comes from the estate of Frank Arrigoni, an East Canaan resident who was an auto mechanic. Bronson described him as “a real sportsman.”A year after Arrigoni’s death in 2009, his son Chuck (a former forestry intern at the Great Mountain Forest) gave the wood-and-canvas canoe to Bronson.The vessel was in rough shape. “It was held together by two nylon straps,” Bronson said. Falls Village resident Brian Munson and Bronson brought the canoe to the Great Mountain Forest carpentry barn, and decided it should be restored in memory of and in honor of Arrigoni. Enter Schuyler Thomson of Norfolk, who restores old canoes for a living. He volunteered his workshop and his expertise.Bronson was also able to assemble a team of volunteers, whom he praised for their “stick-toitiveness.”On Monday evenings, from October 2010 to March of this year, the volunteers continued to show up — sometimes enticed by Bronson’s venison stew. “Food works every time,” Bronson said.It was a time-consuming task. Talk about getting down to brass tacks; this canoe has about 2,000 of them, and they all had to be replaced.It’s a remarkable craft — particularly the attention to detail. It almost looks too good to put in the water.Bronson vehemently rejected the notion that the canoe is some sort of museum piece — even if it looks like one. “This canoe is meant to be paddled.”Armed with a serial number, a curious person can find an astonishing amount of information about an Old Town canoe. Bronson said this one had been shipped originally to Cape Cod.“You could tell it had been in salt water” by the deterioration of the brass tacks after they’d been exposed to salt water and sea air.The community restoration effort took 120 man hours to complete, Bronson estimated. “Nobody missed a night.”“Frank was worth the work,” Bronson said of his hunting and fishing partner and friend. “You only meet one or two Franks in a lifetime.”The 17-foot canoe is being raffled off on Saturday, June 18, at 2 p.m. at the golf course shelter, 90 Golf Drive, Norfolk. Funds raised will benefit the Great Mountain Forest, which is a working forest and educational facility.To order tickets at $20 each, send a check made out to Great Mountain Forest, 201 Windrow Road, Norfolk CT, 06058. Be sure to include an address, phone number and self-addressed stamped envelope. To arrange to pick up tickets, contact Jean or Jody Bronson at jean@greatmountainforest.org or jody@greatmountainforest.org.