Photos: Rutabaga Paddle Sports and Canoecopia
The longtime Madison area paddle and outdoors shop will close in December and Canoecopia will no longer exist.
Rutabaga Paddle Sports and Canoecopia
Rutabaga Paddle Sports
Rutabaga Paddle Sports and Canoecopia
Rutabaga Paddle Sports on Rimrock Road will close in December.
Rutabaga Paddle Sports and Canoecopia
Rutabaga Paddle Sports on Rimrock Road will close in December.
Rutabaga Paddle Sports and Canoecopia
Rutabaga Paddle Sports on Rimrock Road will close in December.
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Wooden canoe paddles and plastic kayak paddles fill the back of Rutabaga Paddle Sports in Fitchburg. The shop was founded in 1974 by a group of UW-Madison students who began selling paddling and outdoor gear out of their basement.
Rutabaga Paddle Sports and Canoecopia
Rutabaga Paddle Sports on Rimrock Road will close in December.
Rutabaga Paddle Sports and Canoecopia
Rutabaga Paddle Sports on Rimrock Road will close in December.
Rutabaga Paddle Sports and Canoecopia
Rutabaga Paddle Sports on Rimrock Road will close in December.
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Darren Bush walks with a customer after he helped the man select a kayak paddle. Bush became full-time manager of Rutabaga in 1994, general manager in 2000, co-owner in 2002, and sole owner in 2007.
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Darren Bush carries a kayak that had just been purchased from his Rutabaga Paddle Sports shop in Fitchburg. Bush said he has been unable to sell the Rimrock Road business and will close the shop in December. Canoecopia, a long-running outdoors expo held each spring, is also ending.
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Mary Ebeling, a longtime customer at Rutabaga Paddle Sports, offers her well-wishes Wednesday to Darren Bush, who is closing his shop along Rimrock Road.
Canoecopia
Wenonah Canoe sales manager Mike Looman prepares a display of boats a day prior what should have been the opening of the 2020 Canoecopia at the Alliant Energy Center. The event was canceled, and officials announced Wednesday that the 2021 event will be only online.
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The sale of Rutabaga Paddlesports will include Canoecopia, a sports expo held each February at Alliant Energy Center. This image is from 2019.
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Bill Swift, with Swift Canoe and Kayak in Ontario, Canada, secures a kayak as he sets up his booth in preparation for the opening of the 2017 Canoecopia at Alliant Energy Center.
Canoecopia
Kurt Whitney, of Winona, Minn., takes the packaging off kayaks for the Wenonah Canoe and Current Designs booth during setup for the 2014 Canoecopia at Alliant Energy Center.
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Rutabaga Paddlesports includes large overhead doors that flood the store with natural light. Owner Darren Bush is closing the store on Rimrock Road at the end of this year.
Rutabaga Paddlesports
Darren Bush started working at Rutabaga Paddlesports in 1990 and purchased the business in 2002.
Owner Darren Bush had tried selling his Rimrock Road shop, but market forces made it difficult to find a buyer.
