by Jody Spear and Kelly Meyer –
CLEAR LAKE – The Clear Lake “End of Summer” Beach Party had many people having fun in the sun. Labor Day Weekend usually indicates that summer is coming to an end, school is starting and vacations are done, but this one last weekend was full of events, water and beach fun.
The day kicked-off with a sand castle building contest. It started at 1:00 and was judged and awards given out at 4:00 pm. Elijah Alden was the 1st Place, king of the sand castle building, overall winner. He also tried out the stand-up paddle board and the ride the rail, hand powered train.
“He had a lot of fun, that’s all that counts. That’s the purpose of today,” said Steve Alden, Elijah’s father.
The owners of Walk & Water Stand-up Paddle, are Jim and Beth McGuire of Clear Lake. They rent their boards at PM Park for $20 an hour.
“Today we mostly did free demos. We had a lot of people going through and trying it out,” said Beth, as she wiped the sand from the boards.
The Ride the Rail children’s hand-powered mini train and train track was a hit with the kids. The Iowa Trolley Park of Mason City and Clear Lake Electric Railroad provided the ride for the kids. Donations were taken to help keep the park up. Volunteers Stan Gentry from Clear Lake and Ruth Rick from Mason City were there helping the kids get in and out of the train cars and making sure they were safe. Stan was blowing his train whistle as the kids rode the rails.
At 6:00, there was a hidden treasure hunt. “You go to the Bingo tent and buy your tickets. It’s $5.00 for 6 tickets and you have to be 21 to purchase them and,” said Tammy Prince of Mason City. “My boyfriend bought some so we’re waiting until 5:45 for the drawing. It was supposed to be 4:45, but the tickets were printed wrong.”
Joe Garcia, Prince’s boyfriend said, “I heard they may have hidden a golf cart under there. We’ll have to wait and see.” There was a smoothed out patch of sand on the beach with yellow tape around it. That’s where the treasures are hidden and the lucky raffle winners will dig to see what they win.
Also at 6:00 pm, the Chocolate Crackers performed on stage at the beach. They played until 8:00 pm when the movie, “The Hunger Games” was shown at the Band Shell in City Park.
Watch video:
httpv://youtu.be/X4fjECp5XZI
