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   As promised last week, this, our last week of turtle racing for the 2023 season, is dedicated to our “Unsung Heroes” who give us 10 weeks of their Wednesdays every summer. 

   Let’s start with early morning each Wednesday. Paul is up and at ‘em while most folks are still snoozing. He drives through town to get the turtle mobile out of storage and brings it to Main Street, and then  hauls over the storage trailer,  getting everything in position for the stage hands when they show up around noon. That’s when you will see yellow T shirts starting to swarm.

Resort race winner...

Zeke, age 3, from Hector, walked away with the big W this week representing Long Birch Lodge, pictured here with Angelia Sawyers of All Seasons Resort. Photo submitted.

Slow Poke champion

This week’s Grand Slowpoke champion was Jim Southcotte from Shakopee. Photo submitted.

Turtle race champion

This week’s Grand Winner was Rayne Feichtinger from St. Paul. Photo submitted.

 

   The YMCA Camp staff and our VFW boys start to position everything, so at 12:30 when it is legal to shut down main street to traffic...it is all hands on deck! The tents, tables, chairs, games, registration booth, souvenir booth , prize table loaded with goodies all come out..and poof....Main Street Longville has been transformed into a Carnival. All we need now is our guests. They start arriving about now as well, queing up on the sidewalk to buy their racing and game tickets. 

   Let’s walk around the area and introduce you to our other heroes.  Jeanne and Sande are selling turtle racing tickets, Beth is there prepping the tickets, while Kathy and Kitty are moving fast selling souvenirs and game tickets. Things are flying off the shelf!!  Nancy, Loren or Angie will be registering the resort racers. Jeff and Melinda, Steve and Lori along with Barb and Dave are running the 2 Fishing for Fun games. Along with Mary Jo who has always been a fishing game gal, and just took a winger to do Ring Toss..and loves it!! Then, there is  Carla at Turtles on the Fence,  Christine on Bola Toss , Jean or Deb on the Turtle Roll...they share that game, Shirley or Kris on Ring Toss,  while Dennis, the Mad Hatter on Wiffle Ball, is beguiling the children with this antics, and Elsie, Patti, Laura, Sadie, Jan, Paulette, Cindy  and  Kim,  can be found on Bag the Turtle or anywhere else they are needed. And they are needed each week! Over at the prize table Diane, Janie, Lisa and Mary are helping the children with their googly eyes choose their prizes. Tom and  Pat, and her assistant Payton, will be judging the races, while our turtle wranglers, Emery and Sawyer, will be getting the little stinkers ready for each race. Willy is there watching over his brood of turtles, too. Up in the booth you can find Ed, Gary, Tom, Dawn or Sara. Kim and Joe are all over the place helping out, and behind the scenes, pulling the strings, are Jane and Judy.

   That’s it. A day in the life of a Turtle Race Volunteer. And, they volunteer joyfully!! Bless their hearts.

   On a final note, we had 380 turtle racers..a record for the final race and international guests...once again. Suzanne Myers, her husband and 2 children, are visiting Mom, Lesley Myers, of Woman lake. Suzanne is a Renaissance Art Historian, living and working in Florence, Italy. She was overheard in the turtle ring assisting her 2 young boys, telling them, in Italian, that she raced turtles as a youngster, living in Longville!! There you go. That’s a wrap for the season. Stay safe, healthy and happy.

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