It appears that the new Palmer River Festival is a somewhat trimmed-down version of the old Palmer Fest. For someone who is new to the thing, at 95$ it is a killer deal, even if the number and variety of clinics has gone down. For someone slightly more experienced, or wanting to work on playboating, the Ottawa River Festival would be a better bet. The quality of both festivals depend on river levels, of course.
Myself, I think I will go to the Ottawa one. Typically, our club has a Palmer Rapids weekend the next weekend anyway, where we play at Palmer Rapids on Friday and Saturday, and run the lower section of the river on Sunday.
--C.
