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    Well, we had a delightful day at the races! What was supposed to be a cold rainy day was brilliant sun and warm! You know what they say about Minnesota..If you don’t like the weather, stick around it will change. 

   The crowd, 346 racers and their families, about 1000 folks all together, were wild with energy and enthusiasm! The YMCA dance always gets them going dancing wise...they were singing it Wednesday, how fun is that? The hula hoopers were amazing, they must have been practicing at home! When our announcer called for the fellows to join in hula hooping, suddenly they were all shy. With the coaxing of their families, they rallied! And although the announcer always says...watch carefully, this contest only takes seconds, he was proved wrong... a couple of those fellows had been practicing, too! The crowd went crazy with applause. 

Turtle race champions

This week had two grand winners, (L-R) seven week old Eli Nichols of Cedar Lake, IN and six year old Eliza Montgomery from Wykoff, MN. Eli’s sister, 12 year old Baileigh Nichols took home the Grand Slowpoke title.  Photo submitted.

Volunteer’s anniversary

When the announcer called out for any anniversaries, two beloved Longville locals stepped forward. Paul and Anita Harwig have been married for 20 years! Photo submitted.

Resort race winner...

Six year old Claire Hanson from Kasota, MN walked away with the big W this week representing Long Birch Lodge, pictured here with Angelia Sawyers of All Seasons Resort. Photo submitted.

   The turtles were in fine form... they scooted around so fast, they could hardly get the music going! 

   Now for the old and new... First, let’s do the new. There were so many Green Ribbon winners competing for the Grand Winner that we had to run 2 Final Races. And, the winners, one at each race... were brother and sister! How does that happen? Our “new something” is the 2nd winner, 7 week old Eli Nichols. See their picture here. Sweet! Our “Something Old” is our Celebrity Announcer, Gary Knox, from Minne Teepee Resort on Woman Lake.  I don’t mean age old, I mean experience old, because Gary was heavily involved in the Turtle Races for many years, and, what an announcer he is! I think partly why the crowd was so responsive was due to Gary’s coaxing them on! We get him back on August 2nd. You might want to come by and check him out.

   In closing, the story this week is about Kate and Naga Shanmugan, staying at Wildwood Beach Resort on Man lake. Kate’s family has been going there for 20 years. Naga is from India and loves being up here with their 2 year old son. After chatting a bit, his parting comment was “We’ll be back next year.” I love it. Got a heads up for next week...we’ll have 11 year old Leopold and his family with us, visiting Tim Plunkett and his family. Leopold is traveling from LA Havre France. How do they happen to know the Plunkett’s? It’s quite a story, you’ll enjoy it. Until then....

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