Totally tubular, dude!
Family finds fun on water at county lake
News editor
With no algae advisories and temperatures approaching 100 degrees, many groups took the opportunity to hit the water this weekend.
One such group was Dennis and Janis Maggard, their family, and friends.
They went to Marion County Park and Lake for an afternoon hanging out on the Maggards’ dock and tubing Saturday.
“The little kids could go to midnight, but I get tired,” Dennis said.
A few years ago, before they had a boat, they bought a dock on the southeast side of the lake. It was a project to get it in good. They added a walkway to the shore and stairs up the steep bank of the lake. When they washed the dock off before staining it, dozens of spiders emerged. When they got a boat two summers ago, all the work was worth it.
“This is probably one of the best things we’ve done,” Janis said. “Even if you’re not in the boat, you can be part of the kids having fun.”
Under ideal conditions, the Maggards said they like to go boating at the lake every other weekend during the summer. Conditions aren’t ideal, though. Busy schedules and other problems can interfere.
“Last year, we hardly ever came out because of the blue-green algae,” Dennis said.
Both the county lake and Marion Reservoir were under blue-green algae advisories much of last summer and have been under advisories this summer. The lake advisory was lifted two weeks ago. The reservoir advisory was lifted last week, but park rangers closed beaches Monday because of renewed algae levels.
On Saturday the Maggards took full advantage of the break from the algae, having a blast with about a dozen guests. While Janis entertained the guests on the dock, Dennis towed two or three people at a time on the tube, testing their arm strength as the tube bounced over the wake of the boat.