Another fun time at Waterama

By John Fragodt, Sports Reporter

I forgot to mention in last week’s column how much fun I had covering my second Waterama for the Pope County Tribune.  When I was covering community events for the Swift County Monitor-News of Benson, the major summer events were the Pioneerland Band Festival and Kid Day, which always took place the third Saturday in July.  Sure, there were other events, like the Swift County Fair and other smaller celebrations like summer barbecues, reunions, etc., but mostly, it was the Band Festival and Kid Day.  

Well, here in Pope County, there are so many events like Starbuck’s Heritage Days, Sedan Daze, Wonderful Wednesdays, Music in the Park, the Concert Series at Central Square, Starbuck’s Dragon Boat Festival, Villard Days and so much more.  However, Waterama is the major event in Pope County each year and the community does a great job with so many major events while also adding more fun events each year.

I remember my first event to cover for the Pope County Tribune last summer was the Basketball Challenge on Thursday of Waterama weekend.  This year, I didn’t have to go far to cover that event as I was at the first-ever Pickleball Tourney helping out from 4-7 p.m. and then walked across the courts to the Basketball Challenge to take pictures at 7 p.m.  

Speaking of the Pickleball Tourney, what a great addition to Waterama weekend, and there were nothing but good comments and feedback from this year’s participants.  I can’t wait to see the action again next summer.

Friday was a very busy day for me as I helped out at the Pickleball Tourney again for most of the day, while also taking some time to head over for some Crazy Days deals and the pie eating contest at Magnifi Financial (we’ll run some pictures of that next week).

It was fun being at the City Park, Thursday and Friday with music playing in the background, people selling crafts and food, and kids and parents bustling around all over.  I was also amazed at all the people that took the time to watch the Pickleball Tourney.

Saturday was the busiest day of the weekend for me.  I was up bright and early to make sure I was in the right spot at Glenwood City Beach for the Magic Mile and 5k/10K runs.  Once that was done, I headed over the library for the book sale and then biked out to Barsness Park to meet some of my family.  We then headed to the Farmers Market, Sand Sculpture contest, morning Yoga, Bean Bag Tourney and Car Show before my family headed elsewhere while I kept shooting more pictures.

From the Car Show, I biked past the Splash Pad and over to the Volleyball Tourney and then raced back the other way and took some pictures of the soccer alumni game and back over to the beach for the swimming races and to see who won the sand sculpture contest.  The only thing I missed was the softball tournament, which was canceled this year due to lack of teams.  Let’s get this going again next year.  I’m never able to relax until I know my pictures turned out so I quickly headed over to the Pope County Tribune office to upload my photos.  Thank goodness no problems!

We had some company over for the rest of Saturday and I knew a couple of co-employees were set to take pictures the rest of the day, so I spent the remainder of Saturday at our place on Lake Pelican despite wanting to head over for the Pontoon Parade and Fireworks display (maybe next year).

On Sunday, I was back at the office to work on pictures but did take some time out to check out the pancake breakfast and community church service at City Park.  With my boss, Tim Douglass, in charge of taking pictures at the Grand Parade and coronation, I’ll wait to attend those events in the near future.

Yes, Pope County you do a fantastic job in hosting Waterama weekend and I’m very excited to continue covering the event for the PCT in the years ahead.