CRYSTAL LAKE — The Crystal Lake Recreation committee celebrated its 40th annual Fun in the Sun event on July 31, Aug. 1 and 2. A beach concert with music by Dangerous Cheese kicked off the weekend. The 1980s-themed party encouraged individuals to come dressed in neon colours, big hairstyles and workout wear.
Saturday featured a U6 relay race where racers swam through a water obstacle, an on-land obstacle course and ran to the finish line. The U10 relay races had racers swim, do a flipper obstacle course, and run; the U15 category and open categories had teams swimming, kayaking and running to the finish line. The 50+ Masters category had teams paddleboarding, doing an obstacle course in a set of flippers, and biking.
There was also a beach volleyball, horseshoes, bocce ball, cornhole, and pickleball tournament. A summer farmers market and a barrel ride were also held in conjunction with the other events.
The summer farmers market had 23 vendors with a variety of items from baking, hand-crafted items, and miscellaneous items.
Food vendors on site were Two22coffee stand, Maggie’s BBQ, Bubble Tea, and Papa R mini donuts with freshly made lemonade.
Saturday concluded with fireworks.
Sunday events featured a Sunday breakfast brunch at Crystal Lake Golf Course and concluded with a family movie night on the beach with the double feature playing, The Princess Bride and The Goonies.
“Fun in the Sun began in 1986, when the beach place was born, as Jerry and Anita Desroches purchased the store at Johnny's Beach,” said Shawn Krotenko, president of the Crystal Lake Rec Committee. “During this time, the Crystal Lake ski club was very active and were looking for a fun event for the Crystal Lake community, and so between the two, the initial fun in the sun was born.
"The first year there was one open event for all ages with a five person team, each participant had their specific portion of the relay, first the tire roller would roll the tire from the beach around the parking lot and back down to the boat launch, the swimmer took over from the boat launch swim across the lake to the point and back before handing off to the paddler of the paddle boat and then came back and handed off to a biker who proceeded West past the golf course ending at the entrance, passing off to the runner to make the final leg back to the beach place.
"The relay has changed over the years, and so has Fun in the Sun as a whole, with the addition of volleyball and horseshoes in the 90s, bocce ball, pickleball, corn hole, concerts, and beer gardens in more recent years. Some of you will remember the evening BBQ the Beach Place had with Anita's famous potato salad and baked beans and corn on the cob. This was when everyone would get prizes and their treasured Relay towels in the 80s and 90s. Through the years, there have been some changes, big and small, including different owners of the store and previous community groups who helped to organize the Fun in the Sun to the Crystal Lake Recreation Committee,” he said.
Krotenko presented Anita Desroches with a special 40th anniversary pink blanket in appreciation of her years of dedication.
