BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A Gowanus couple got engaged
while canoeing on the
neighborhood’s namesake
canal on Aug. 22.
Jamison Pence proposed
to his girlfriend of threeand
a-half years Emma Borochoff
while they were paddling
near the Carroll Street
Bridge on Aug. 22, and the
groom-to-be said he chose
Brooklyn’s Nautical Purgatory
because of their shared
love for the neighborhood.
“Gowanus is really ingrained
into our relationship,”
Pence said. “We’ve
lived in Gowanus for two
years now and we walk past
the canal every single day.”
The lovebirds wanted to
boat the notoriously toxic
channel for a while, and the
dirty waters were a great setting,
despite its pollution, according
to Borochoff.
“It was unique and special
and totally weird, so it was
great,” she said.
The couple, who work at
different startups in sales
and marketing, respectively,
moved to the neighborhood
two years ago from Queens
and Greenpoint and fell in
love with locals’ pride for the
industrial waterway.
“Everyone here is proud
of the canal even though it’s
full of trash and toxic,” said
Borochoff. “We had always
wanted to go canoeing in it,
we loved the idea that you
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can even do that.”
Pence organized the stunt
a few weeks in advance with
help from the Gowanus
Dredgers Canoe Club, whose
captains assigned boat club
photographer Nicole Vergalla
to snap shots of the joyous
moment.
“I felt like doing it on
the Carroll Street bridge
would have been too easy, so
I wanted to add a bit of a challenge,”
Pence said.
The Dredgers gave the
couple a silver-colored boat
to distinguish them from the
other red vessels on the canal
that afternoon, so Vergalla
knew who to look out for.
Once they approached the
bridge, a group of friends on
the span distracted Borochoff,
while Pence snuck up
from behind and got down on
one knee to ask her the allimportant
question.
“Then I saw Jamie out on
the knee, I was surprised, I
had no idea,” she said.
The couple plan to get
married in their native
Maryland, but Pence said
he was glad to share the moment
with his friends and the
neighborhood.
“It was great that we were
able to share that moment
with more people,” he said.
The two aren’t the fi rst to
turn noxious canal into a romantic
scene, as a newly-married
couple celebrated their
union on a romantic boat
ride “gondola-style” back in
2011, Patch reported.
The happy couple. Nicole Vergalla
Borochoff reacts to the surprise proposal. Nicole Vergalla
She said yes!
Man proposes to girlfriend on Gowanus Canal
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