Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WINONA LAKE – Twenty-one boats raced in the cardboard regatta during Canal Days Saturday, drawing a crowd to watch.
The fastest time in the kids single (10 and under) category was Vada’s Flower Garden, made up of Vada Ice, who made it to the bridge in 9:56.
The fastest time for the kids (10 and under) category was Pirates Booty, made up of Jade and Levi Conne, who completed the race in 4:31.
The fastest time in the youth (11 to 17) category was Team Moover, made up of teammates Ace Richcreek and Lucas Rhoades. They were also the fastest overall team with a time of 3:29.
The fastest boat in the adult (18 and over) category was Wheezer 1, made up of teammates Arielle Day and Brianna Tursky, who completed the race in 6:06. Wheezer 1 also won the best costume award.
The Titanic Award went to Titanic, made up of teammates Liam Konieczny and Sadie Riley.
The Best in Show with 213 tickets went to The Cucumbers, made up of teammates Isaac Burnworth, Sam Weaver and Nicholas England.
Eric Lane, co-founder and executive director of Fellowship Missions, said Fellowship Missions has partnered with The Village at Winona for the cardboard regatta race for 10 years and the event helps brings awareness to what Fellowship does. There is no charge for registration for the regatta. Proceeds from Best in Show votes, along with other donations, go straight to Fellowship Missions.
“We were never trying to make this as a fundraiser per se. It was more of the awareness of what Fellowship Missions is doing in our community,” said The Village at Winona Managing Director Nick Hauck. “There’s so many not-for-profits in Kosciusko County, it’s nice to be able to partner with one for the work they’re doing. Everyone’s a great not-for-profit, but when you’re really helping people in need, it goes a long way ...”
Fellowship Mission serves men, women, single parents, youth and families who don’t have a safe place to sleep at night and they offer recovery services for them and the community, Lane said. The Gathering Place has opportunities to connect people to recovery resources and other services.
“We’re really here to help individuals help get back on their feet and move forward,” he said.
The regatta got started after Lane talked with Hauck and they wanted to do “something fun like this.” He thought the first year Canal Days had the cardboard regatta race, it had four boats compete and has since grown. Lane cited the foot traffic that was at Saturday’s event and said before the regatta started, he had already talked to several people that “hadn’t been down here before.”
Lane said he thought the biggest group in Saturday’s event was middle schoolers and thought they had nine or 10 boats.
There was at least one team that comes in to town from Fort Wayne just to do the regatta, Lane said.
“Communities that have things like this, that bring community together, are healthy because people want to have things like this to come to. If you don’t have it, they find other communities to go to,” Lane said. “We want fun things that can also serve a purpose and support organizations in the community.”
Some of the highlights of Canal Days is the boats in the water and the kids’ faces.
“Look at these kids’ faces. I mean, they’re excited to do it. I mean, that’s the fun part for us,” Lane said, noting some teams do it year after year.
