Rowing Club's Contract Renewed

Several dozen supporters of the East Bay Rowing club turned out at the Barrington Town Council meeting Monday night to push for a renewal of the contract with the nonprofit rowing club. 

They didn’t go home disappointed. 

The Town Council voted 4-1 to renew the contract with the club, which is operated by Barrington residents Deb and Patrick Sullivan out of the Walker Farm conservation area off of County Road. The length of the pact is two years.

“They brought tears to my eyes,” said Deb Sullivan of the support shown for the organization at the council meeting.

The club conducted classes for about 105 teens and adults last year through the contract with the Recreation Department, she said. It launches its 4-person and 8-person racing shells out of Walker Farm on Hundred Acre Cove. It also stores the shells on a trailer there during the warm-weather seasons.

“We practice on Hundred Acre Cove up the (Wampanoag) trail and down to the White Church bridge,” Sullivan said. 

Rowers range in age from 13 – the youngest she’ll take – to around 65, she said. The adults fill up classes at 5:30 am, 8:30 am, and 10 am. The teens can be seen on the cove after school. 

Sullivan said her season will start around April 1 this year, depending on the weather. It will run until the end of October. She also operates indoor rowing at a fitness club in Warren during the cold-weather months.

Sullivan said East Bay Rowing is nonprofit 501(c)3 organization. It pays user fees of $10 each to Barrington like other youth organization, such as Little League and Pop Warner, for use of Walker Farm.

It was the size of the user fees compared with the $160 to $170 fees charged for classes that seemed to draw opposition from Town Councilor Ann Strong, who cast the only negative vote.

For more information about East Bay Rowing, you can go online at eastbayrowing.org or contact Sullivan at deb@eastbayrowing.com.