ST. MARYS — There were not a bunch of new events at the second annual Summer Kickoff held at Grand Lake at the Villa Nova shelter house.
The Lake Improvement Association, which sponsors the event, saw things as successful enough last year.
“We just made everything bigger,” said LIA Vice President Mark Piening.
The event had about 625 runners for the 5K color run last year, and more than 850 participated this year. Another feature at the event included national recording artist Mustang Sally. The LIA expected a draw of at least 2,000 for the band. Vendors were up to 60 compared to 40 last year and more than 60 cars turned out for the car cruise-in.
“We were fortunate for the better weather this year,” Piening said. “We had rain last year, so we were prepared with a bigger tent just in case. Fortunately, the weather was nice.”
Piening said any money raised from the event goes to the LIA’s general fund to take care of all of the group’s activities to help clean up the lake. However, he said the main reason is to promote activities on the lake.
“We just want to show people that the lake is still open and it still in use,” Piening said. “The goal is to promote the lake and show that it is open for business.”
The event also featured cornhole and beer pong tournaments, each with a $500 grand prize. Piening said the event would raise about $2,000 to $3,000 for the LIA’s general fund for helping improve the lake.
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