The Peacemaker makes a return visit to Canalside

The Peacemaker makes its return to Canalside this week following last September's successful Buffalo Maritime Festival. Public tours of the 140-foot barquentine will be available from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, June 13, and Saturday, June 14, and on Sunday, June 15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tours are free for children ages 6 and under; $3 for children 7 to 12; and $5 for those age13 and over. For more information, visit www.canalsidebuffalo.com.

The Peacemaker is an American barquentine owned by the Twelve Tribes. The Peacemaker, originally named Avany, was built on a riverbank in southern Brazil using traditional methods and tropical hardwoods, and was launched in 1989. In the summer of 2000, it was purchased by the Twelve Tribes, a religious group with 50 or so communities in North and South America, Europe and Australia. Purchasers spent the next seven years replacing all of the ship's mechanical and electrical systems and rigging it as a barquentine.

The refit vessel set sail for the first time in the spring of 2007 under the name "Peacemaker." The Peacemaker has a large deckhouse and spacious cabins finished in mahogany, modeled after the interior of the Cutty Sark. It also has an innovative transom that can be lowered while in port to reveal a watertight bulkhead with two large doors opening into a cargo area and fully equipped workshop.

For more information on Peacemaker, visit http://www.peacemakermarine.com/ or call 912-275-0001.