Genie and I packed our red HHR Chevrolet and headed north Wednesday a.m. on February 21, 2018. Our destination was the Eelpout festival at Walker, Minnesota. We are VIPs (Very Important Pouters) and along with about 11,998 VIPs, attended the 39th annual festival. The estimated attendance was 12,000.
In 2016 traffic was limited to four-wheelers, snowmobiles and on foot. Beginning at noon on Friday, Genie and I attended the activities on Leech Lake.
In 2017 no cars, or any larger motorized vehicles were allowed on the lake. Thus we didn’t attend.
Why the lake restriction in 2016 and 2017? The ice wasn’t as thick as normal to carry all the weight. This year the ice was almost three feet thick, thus no restrictions on traffic.
During the four-day event it snowed two times. (5 inches the first time and 7 inches the second time) The two snows did reduce the total attendance.
Once again the polar plunge was a success. About 500 people took the plunge raising between $50,000-60,000 for breast cancer.
The two dances on Friday night and Saturday night were well attended. Music was live with dancing under a big, big tent on the ice.
There were about 20 encampments on the lake, each with a different theme. A prize is given for the best encampment. One was Santa Claus with a huge balloon promoting, “You better be nice on the ice.” Another was “couch potatoes” on a couch of people pulled by snowmobiles or four-wheelers. At one encampment all the members wore long sleeve T-Shirts promoting all of them as members of a birthday club from the same town. I think it was Fargo.
Fortunately it didn’t snow till late in the day Saturday (7 inches) so the town was wall to wall with people wearing something to do with Eelpout. It was estimated $2 million exchanged hands locally during the four-day event. For a town of 1,000 people, business was booming.
The prizes were awarded Sunday morning (fish houses, snowmobiles, four-wheelers, minnow buckets, you name it).
Jokingly, the main drag of Walker was closed and traffic was routed onto an Ice Bi-Pass of Walker.
We stayed five nights at the Palace Casino Hotel in Cass Lake as we usually do. Once again, the employees treated us with a “welcome back,” a handshake or a hug and it’s good to see you. I don’t know who the trainer is for the great service, but I do know Marlowe (in the food area) is one of his outstanding students. Another example of very unusual great service was a hand-written note from Mel saying she was sorry to miss us, but she was on a leave of absence due to back problems and looked forward to seeing us in November (deer hunting).
We attended Wednesday night Lenten service and Sunday church at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cass Lake. If you want to attend a church that knows how to belt out a tune, Trinity is the one for you.
Short Shorts:
1. The largest eelpout caught was 10.2 pounds.
2. Walleye is a trash fish during eelpout.
3. For some reason a pileated woodpecker attacked the yellow spam ball on our HHR car antenna as we drove North on highway #6 by Crosby, MN.
4. Trinity Lutheran has a sneaky way of making you a member. A picture of the congregation was taken on Sunday while we were sitting in the pews!
5. Genie enjoyed playing her flute from the second flour balcony in the lobby of the palace hotel.
In talking to two of the in-house laundry employees, I asked, “What was the most unusual thing they had washed?”
In unison, both ladies replied, “a mouse that squeaked.” In starting a load of sheets, an instant squeak started. It was a toy mouse inside. They believe a certain security guard put the toy mouse in the load of sheets.
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.