For the last four years, Holiday Isles Elks Lodge #1912 has conducted an annual day of cardboard boat races. Sailors make waterproof cardboard boats, which they then get in to race. Twenty-two volunteer Elks and five non-Elks helped by selling tickets, T-shirts, and food and beverages; registering participants; helping them safely enter their cardboard boats; acting as emcees; and operating two motorboats in the water for safety patrol and sometimes pulling out disintegrated boats and their sailors. On July 3, 10 sailors participated in the race and most of them managed to make it back to the dock. The event netted $3,243.21 and approximately half of this was donated to the Harry-Anna Trust Fund, which supports Florida Elks Children’s Therapy Services and the Florida Elks Youth Camp. The remainder went to lodge expenses and the building fund to help with the damage from a storm.
Pictured is lodge member and cardboard boat race participant Richard DeBlasio.