A new fundraising effort is underway to push “America’s Stairway” to completion.
The documentary about the national significance of the Erie Canal Flight of Five Locks is being produced by Lockport resident Paul Lamont / Toward Castle Films. A trailer indicates America’s Stairway will explore, in part, “the birth of tourism” following construction of the Erie Canal.
The film is sponsored by the Lockport Locks Heritage District Corporation, which is aiming to see it finished by September 2025, in time to be shown at the World Canals Conference in Buffalo. Next year is the 200th anniversary of completion of the Erie Canal.
According to chairman David Kinyon, the locks district corporation set a total fundraising goal of $150,000 to produce the film, and has raised about $120,000 to date. Still to be filmed are some interviews with historians and other experts on Lockport and the canal, he said; already, several national figures have been interviewed, including Lockport native Joyce Carol Oates, the celebrated author.
The new fundraiser is dubbed Make the Movie and these local businesses are hosting “Help Us Make the Movie” donation canisters on their store counters through the month of July: Spalding Ace Hardware, Mills Jewelers, Scapelliti’s Meat Market, Parkside Drive In, Niagara Produce of Lockport, GiRo Dry Cleaners and Kenyon’s Variety.
Kinyon said Spalding Ace Hardware is inviting its customers to round up their payments to the next dollar, and will give the overage to the campaign.
The documentary is to be distributed nationally through WNED-TV Buffalo Niagara Media. Project manager Todd Alfonso said the Lockport-centered fundraiser is intended to show “grassroots support for taking our unique story into school classrooms and homes across the country as we celebrate the ‘canal that made America’ in just a few short months.”
Other local business owners who want to host a “Make the Movie” donation canister should contact Kinyon at davidkinyonlkpt@gmail.com or 716-638-1119.
Donations can also be made online at www.americasstairway.com.