R utabaga paddlesports owner Darren Bush announced that he will close the Madison, Wisconsin, paddling shop at the end of the year to pursue a calling as a hospice chaplain. Bush will continue to own and operate Canoecopia, the largest consumer gathering in the paddlesports business.
“I believe that life teaches you lessons, and when you’ve learned what you need to learn it’s time to move on,” Bush wrote in a substack announcing the change. “I thought I’d work at Rutabaga a few years, get some management experience, then move on. Well, I didn’t stop learning things.”
Bush started selling canoes part-time in 1990 at Rutabaga, when he still had a so-called ‘real job’ as a statistician for the state of Wisconsin. He became a full-time manager in 1994, General Manager in 2000, co-owner in 2002 and sole owner (with his wife Stephanie) in 2007. A rutabaga, by the way, is a root vegetable that resembles a cross between a turnip and cabbage. If you’ve never tasted one you’re not missing much, but until you’ve felt the energy of Rutabaga’s sales floor or the exhibit hall at Canoecopia, you haven’t fully experienced the paddling lifestyle in North America, and especially the Midwest.
Bush was at the center of that culture, leading with a quiet energy and a heartfelt urgency to share the joy of paddling with others. In addition to his work with Rutabaga and Canoecopia, Bush co-founded the Paddlesports Retailer show and the Big Gear Show. He also owns a thriving rental operation in Madison, which will continue.
Rutabaga Paddlesports Closing at the End of 2025
“The only thing that’s really going away is the retail part of it,” Bush said. “Everything I’m keeping is community-related, not retail-related.” He spoke with Paddling Magazine in advance of his announcement, about the importance of the paddling industry in his life, his calling to the chaplaincy, and the factors that caused him to walk away from his business less than three years after building a new 10,000-square foot retail store…