Families Paddle, Too
| River: | Other |
| Skill: | All |
| Trip Date: | 05/27/2016 |
The fifth annual Families Paddle, Too was a big success! Based on Hot dog count we had around 100 folks at the event. Weather was great all weekend and no injuries were reported.
At the Saturday morning meeting we had several trips form, one to the Lake, one to the Tuck, one to the Pigeon, one to the Nanty and one to the Ocoee. The 40 plus paddlers on the Tuck split into a few groups on the river. Then Sunday, the paddlers moved up in river level difficulty with the Lake paddlers going to the Tuck, Tuck paddlers going to the Nanty and the Nanty and Pigeon paddlers going to the Ocoee.
Ben Fleming from North Carolina gave a river safety talk/demonstration for the kids each morning. Saturday’s was River signals and Sunday’s was rope handling. The Johnson family from Tennessee did a great job of organizing the hot dog dinner Saturday evening, the kids and adults loved it. Who does not enjoy roasting a hot dog over a fire? We went through about 140 hot dogs, twice last year’s number. Crystal Johnson from South Carolina organized an Ice cream social for Sunday evening. The word on the street was that as soon as she drove her car to the group tent with the Ice cream, the kids were running from all directions screaming for ice cream. This year Crystal bought the ice cream from Jack the Dipper in Sylva. Unfortunately, the group that went to the Ocoee missed the ice cream.
Crystal also persuaded some businesses to provide raffle items that were better than last year’s raffle items. She also had an event T-shirt designed and up for sale.
Terry Haughton at Smoky Mountain Meadows Campground also planned many fun events including whiffle ball, a hay ride (Kids loved it) and a great band Sunday night.
He is already taking reservations for next year for the cabins and numbered sites. He booked all the numbered sites earlier this year than he had expected. I already booked mine for next year; so you may want to book yours for next year, too.
We are always looking for volunteers and suggestions on how to make the event better. If you have suggestion’s or would like to volunteer for next year’s event, please contact myself or Crystal Johnson.
Brent Summerfield