2017 Christmas By The Lake in Clear Lake, Iowa
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for December 3, 2017
On Saturday, Miss Sheri and I drove down to Clear Lake, Iowa. On our way into town, Miss Sheri suddenly had inspiration to go and visit the memorial for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper who died in a plane crash in this cornfield outside of Clear Lake back in 1959. Holly's famous glasses mark the spot on the side of road where you walk in to see the memorial.
The memorial is relatively new and this was the first time we'd seen it in person. When I was in high school, me and some other crazy kids came out to this field with a Ouija Board and had kind of a freaky experience. We asked who we were talking to and it spelled B-O-P and my friend who wasn't using the board said The Big Bopper. Now I had never heard of the Big Bopper up to that point, so I know it wasn't me who spelled it. I don't remember what happened after that, but we probably got spooked and left.
After arriving, we stopped by and picked up my old buddy, Krazy Kory. We were looking forward to spending the day together.
We walked across the street to the lake. It's been unseasonably warm so it wasn't frozen yet, but there wasn't much activity happening out there either.
We stopped by a local elementary school's nature center to see some swans and ugly ducklings.
Eventually we made it to downtown Clear Lake for their annual festival called "Christmas by the Lake." It was great to see several old friends while we were down there.
The action really started after sunset and the lake was looking especially beautiful while we waited for that to happen.
There was a nice Christmas parade where all the floats and vehicles were decorated in Christmas lights. It really put me in the Holiday Spirit!
Eventually, we tracked down Krazy Kory's dad, Mean Gene Madson, who was one of the main people responsible for this festival being created many years ago.
Gene recruited us to help with crowd control for the fireworks display which allowed us to have a front row seat. They do a phenomenal job with fireworks in Clear Lake complete with a few barrel bombs that got exploded during the show. Quite impressive!
After the fireworks, we went to celebrate the birthday of our old pal, Jason Bradshaw. He and Jeff were especially festive for the party!
We had a great time seeing old friends like the Wagler Family.
We stayed there for the rest of the night and had quite a bit of fun.
Happy Birthday, Jason!
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