Waverly Lake, as seen from Salem Avenue on Friday evening, June 19, 2026.
Friday’s evening bike ride took me past Waverly Lake, where four yellow paddle boats shaped like big ducklings were moored in the middle.
In case you have not followed the Albany Parks and Recreation Department on social media, the yellow paddle wheelers were donated by Coastal Farm and Ranch, which has supported the city’s paddle boats on Waverly Lake for many summers.
The parks department invited the public to name the plastic craft, and at 10 a.m. today (Saturday, June 20), at the lake, the boats are to be launched and the winners of the naming contest announced.
The four duckling-paddle wheelers hold five people each, and they will be available for rent from 10 to 3 Thursdays through Sundays, June 20 through Sept. 6. Thirty minutes on one of those craft will cost you 10 bucks. (No cash; only cards will be accepted.) For other details of the paddle boat program, see the city’s Facebook post.
As usual in warm weather, and as reported earlier, much of the 10-acre lake is covered with aquatic vegetation. But maybe it’s possible to paddle through that muck.
It would be cool if those paddle wheelers could be equipped with some sort of rake. Then paddlers could try to clean up the lake. They could turn in harvested algae for a credit on their boat rental fee.
One other thing to note: The city owns the lake, and while the city’s paddle boat operation goes on, from June to September, private boats on the lake are banned. (hh)
The paddle boats were tied up in the middle of Waverly Lake Friday evening.
Algae or some other aquatic growth may be a challenge to people paddling those yellow duck boats.
The paddling will definitely help aerate that pond! It needs it. I think not having paddle boats made it worse
I think any “mixing” of the vegetation is akin to taking a leaf blower to a dandelion field.
I agree. (Love your comparison to a dandelion field.) I’m not a scientist, but I wouldn’t want my kids or grandkids paddling through toxic algae. But, the City government’s power brokers, with the help of a male-dominated farm supply store, are going to have their paddle boats, slimy, invasive gunk or not!
You mean the same City govt. that declared June pride month for perpetuity?
Buy your own farm store/city govt. if you don’t want men involved. It was MEN that got rid of slavery and gave women the right to vote.
( It was stupid of me to try to be nice to you.) So, men “gave” women the right to vote because men were in power since time began (except a few ancient civilizations had woman rulers). You are saying that as thinking human beings women did not deserve the right to vote….but the all-powerful men “gave” it to them. (I have my senses back; no more stupidity in trying to be nice. To hell with that.)
it was also MEN who invented slavery so not much credit for ending it
It is just algae and floating plants, common sense would be not to ingest it orally. Paddle away!
What happened to the “Waverly Duck”?
It’s still in storage, I presumably being refurbished.