CLEVELAND, Ohio - Blazing Paddles, the first stand-up paddleboard race on the Cuyahoga River, scheduled for June 23, is one man's effort to showcase how a once heavily polluted waterway can host recreational activities that co-exist safely with industrial shipping.

"I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do," said Jim Ridge, founder and sole proprietor of Share the River, the social media and event-planning startup that organized the paddle race to accompany the second annual Share the River Ramble, a walk-run event scheduled for June 22.

The Ramble will feature activities from 4 to 11 p.m. based at the Cleveland Rowing Foundation boathouse at Rivergate Park on Columbus Road Peninsula.

Blazing Paddles is scheduled for Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Both events are meant to show how far the Cuyahoga has come 49 years after the notorious June 22, 1969 fire on the water that made Cleveland a national symbol of environmental pollution and urban dysfunction.

Ridge, 57, inaugurated the Ramble last year to draw attention to the network of trails and recreational paths emerging along the river, including the Towpath Trail and the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Lake Link Trail.

He added Blazing Paddles this year in partnership with volunteers and Nalu Standup Paddle and Surf to extend the recreational activity to the surface of the river itself.

In doing so, Ridge said he's highlighting how water quality has improved on the river after decades of cleanup efforts.

The paddle race also is intended to show how industry is willing to collaborate with organizers of special events and routine recreational boaters and rowers.

Ridge secured a memorandum of understanding from the Lake Carriers Association, which represents the U.S. flag shipping companies that serve industries along the river including the ArcelorMittal steel plant in the industrial flats.

The association agreed to halt activities for two hours on June 23 to enable the paddleboard race.

"We try to work with people," said Glen Nekvasil, vice president of the Lake Carriers. "As the [Great] lakes get cleaner and as Cleveland's revival goes forward, the Cuyahoga becomes more and more a shared waterway, and we recognize it's a shared waterway."

Nekvasil said the shippers already have an agreement with the Cleveland Rowing Foundation, which sponsors the annual Head of the Cuyahoga regatta, scheduled this year on Sept. 15.

Closing the river even temporarily can pose a challenge to industry, but Nekvasil said the Lake Carriers are willing to cooperate, especially for a relatively brief event like the paddleboard race.

"We have to keep these closures to a minimum," he said. "But if event organizers come to us, we ought to be able to come to an understanding."

Such agreements are relevant to the City of Cleveland, which recently launched its Vision for the Valley, a yearlong, $225,000 planning project aimed at reconciling industry, housing, recreation, entertainment and other activities on land and water in the lower Cuyahoga Valley.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, trucking interests and bicycle advocates locked horns over the future of the Flats.

Today, the pace of redevelopment, including projects such as the Flats East Bank, and the upcoming park at Irishtown Bend Park calls "for some more aggressive attention to connect the dots," said Freddy Collier, the city's planning director.

Vision for the Valley will address issues including how to create continuous waterfront promenades along the riverfront, a complicated issue the city's planning commission has deferred pending additional study.

Collier said that Cleveland should capitalize on the potential for redevelopment around the river to remain competitive with other cities with redeveloped waterfronts, including Columbus and Cincinnati, and now, Detroit.

"We have to maximize that asset," Collier said of the river and the Flats. "It's a huge opportunity, a huge opportunity."

At the same time, he called cooperation among industry and other activities along the river "imperative."

The planning project will formally begin in late summer or fall. It is funded in part with a $125,000 grant under the Transportation for Livable Communities Initiative of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. Other partners are the Port of Cleveland and Cleveland Metroparks.

Ridge, an account executive with Salt Lake City-based Sterling ATM, which designs, makes and installs ATM branding enclosures and signage, has made rebranding Cleveland as a waterfront city a personal mission.

He also joined the nonprofit Canalway Partners, which is helping to develop the Towpath Trail, as its marketing director.

Ridge hopes to develop Share the River as a for-profit entity aimed at raising awareness about the transformation of the Cuyahoga River.

He launched the Ramble and the paddle race to prepare for larger versions of both events next year, the 50th anniversary of the fire on the Cuyahoga.

So far, about 120 participants have registered for the Ramble, which starts at Columbus Road and traces the Scranton Road Peninsula before taking a loop north along the West Bank of the Flats and returning to the start. The $20 registration fee will defray race expenses, Ridge said.

Some 60 participants have registered for the paddleboard race, which starts at Rivergate Park on Columbus Road Peninsula and reaches a little over 3 miles south and upriver to the site of a 1952 fire on the river. Registration is $75.

Event sponsors include the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Fat Head's Brewery, Canalway Partners, and Ohio City Inc.

Ridge said he's trying to "figure out how to better connect Northeast Ohioans to the river as a natural resource. Doing things in a meaningful, engaging fashion helps people understand the value of that resource."

Event Preview

What's going on:

Share the River Ramble and Blazing Paddles

When:

The Ramble, a 2.5-mile and 5-mile run-walk event, is Friday, June 22 from 4-11 p.m. Blazing Paddles, a 2- and 6-mile race is Saturday, June 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where:

Events based at Rivergate Park, 1785 Merwin Ave., Cleveland.

Registration:

$20 for the Ramble, $75 for the paddle race.

Info:

Go to sharetheriver.com/events/