Crowd Enjoys Winona Lake’s Cardboard Boat Race
WINONA LAKE — Winona Lake’s Canal Days was celebrated through intermittent showers on Saturday, Aug. 25 and contestants in the cardboard boat race, not unlike festival participants, tried to stay as dry as possible.
It wasn’t easy because part of the event involved spectators being allowed to bomb the boaters with water balloons and squirt guns to make the race an extra challenge — as if boating with cardboard wasn’t hard enough. Several contests managed to keep their boats waterborne long enough to paddle their way through the course. However, some were not so lucky.
The fastest corporate finisher award was earned by Green Earth Multi-Sport, piloted by Paula and Melissa Deming, who were winners despite taking on water and having to abandon ship. The judges determined that the water they took on was added by a spectator illegally.
Fastest adult finisher was Brother Ducky, piloted by Eli and Alexi Demopoulos, who also earned best in show and the Titanic award was given to the Silver Strider, crewed by Russ and Cole Parrott. The overall finisher was Kuh-boat-uh, with Matt Light and Titus Emery at the helm.
The Canal Days were hosted by The Village At Winona and the cardboard boat race was a fundraiser for Fellowship Missions. The event had seven competitors.