Parrs Make the News

TUG JOINS HOMECOMING
Article taken from the Sun Times of Owen Sound
 by Tara Bowie, Sun Times staff

Russel Bros. boat launched sixty years ago, here to take part in Tugboat Festival

A Parry Sound couple and the city of Owen Sound are sharing an anniversary of sorts.  
Bob and Sandra Parr's home on the waves was built at the Russel Bros. factory 60 years ago, in 1947. The couple brought the tug, named the Mink Isle, back to Owen Sound to participate in Saturday’s Tugboat Festival.  The festival is part of the city’s 150th Homecoming Celebrations.  “We’ve been here before, but it’s a special year for both.  It’s the tugs 60th and Owen Sound's 150th.  We’re excited, we love a good tug race,” Bob Parr said. The Parr’s tug, originally named the “Brompton Duchess,” completed it’s maiden voyage in the Owen Sound harbour before being bought by a Thunder Bay paper company.  In 1983, Bob found the boat on a barge in the Sault.  It was in “pretty rough shape,” but he had to have it, he said.  “He definitely didn’t care what the decorating looked like when he bought the thing,” Sandra joked. “I come from a family of commercial fisherman and I needed a boat like this,” Bob said “I looked around for a couple of years and the Russel boats seemed better built than the rest.  ”Over eight months the engine was rebuilt, the smoke stack replaced and the roof raised and the vessel was deemed seaworthy.  Eventually a small stove, two refridgerators and new beds were put in the hull. 

More info on the Owen Sound Tugboat Festival will be coming shortly.                                 

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