MEDINA: Well-known mules are about to make their return

Staff Reports
The Tonawanda News

May 29, 2007 10:27 am

— Two sturdy and friendly Medina mules named Yank and Reb will be earning their keep once again when the historic replica schooner, Lois McClure, sails into the port of Medina to tie up for a big weekend of celebration starting July 20.
The Medina Canal Task Force has announced that the two animals, which once pulled the widely-known “Miss Apple Grove” will be harnessed and in action along the towpath. It will be a return to days of old when mules pulled all the Erie Canal traffic.
“This seems like a very special addition to this event and we couldn’t pass it up,” said James Hancock, task force chairman, after he met with the owners of the mules, Ron and Nancy McCarty of the Stone Farm Bed & Breakfast on North Gravel Road.
The 88-foot Lois McClure, built and touring out of Burlington, Vt., is making a grand historic tour of the New York state canal system this year and Medina’s weekend is among the featured stops. The 175th anniversary of both the Village of Medina and its fire department also will be celebrated with a host of activities.
The owners of the mules said they are delighted that their animals will have another chance to serve the community.
“These mules are 1,500 pounds of pure strength and are by nature calm and easy to handle,” said Ron McCarty, who was a mule driver in the days when the pair pulled the tour boat of the Apple Grove restaurant.
Plans are advancing for a full-scale weekend of entertainment, Hancock said. Activities will include public tours of the schooner, a Saturday evening musical concert in the canal basin, walking tours of Medina, photo displays, dockside demonstrations, sales events, open houses, wagon rides, an auto cruise-in and public welcoming at the Medina Historical Society and the Medina Railroad Museum.
Other events and firefighter contests will be part of the local birthday.
“We will be announcing a full-time schedule for all the weekend events as the summer goes along,” said Hancock.
“The schooner will be the centerpiece, but the weekend is shaping up as a major all-around celebration,” added Orleans Tourism Director Wayne Hale.