iN VIDEO: Paddlewheeler Wanda Sue spotted on South Thompson river in Kamloops

The paddlewheeler Wanda Sue was spotted cruising along the river in Kamloops over the weekend causing a bit of stir among its fans. Darcy Anderson caught the iconic paddlewheeler on video as it churned past his South Thompson River property on a sunny Saturday, Aug. 3. Built by George Slack in the early 1980s, and currently owned by the Slack family, the 40-year-old boat has a special history in the tournament capital. https://infotel.ca/newsitem/in-photos-paddle-wheeler-wanda-sue-sets-sights-on-return-to-south-thompson-river/it99398 The Wanda Sue is 18-feet wide and almost 100-feet long, and in 1984 it was licensed to carry 100 passengers. For two decades it plied the waters of the South Thompson down to Savona on occasion and up to Salmon Arm on others. Most of the cruises took roughly 2.5 hours. It couldn’t run up the North Thompson because it was too shallow and the mechanism to lift the CN Rail Bridge span had been removed https://infotel.ca/newsitem/why-a-cn-railroad-bridge-in-kamloops-has-two-tall-towers/it105080 . READ MORE: iN VIDEO: Meet the dinosaurs in the Fraser River, and who is protecting them https://infotel.ca/newsitem/in-video-meet-the-dinosaurs-in-the-fraser-river-and-who-is-protecting-them/it106013 The popularity of the tours eventually dwindled and the boat was parked at George’s home in 2003. "Every year it is fired up and moved at least from her inside moorage to the outside moorage, and sometimes on a little family cruise," George Slack's grandson Rick Slack told iNFOnew.ca. "The family would love to see the Wanda Sue plying the river again on a commercial basis, and are always interested in talking to people who share that vision or have aspirations of making that happen." To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie mailto:sainslie@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .