Christmas By The Lake 2019 in Clear Lake, Iowa

Christmas By The Lake 2019 in Clear Lake, Iowa

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for December 8, 2019

We had our Prior Lake Empty Nester Club get together on Thursday night at the Meadows and had a good turn-out of fun people.  I always like hanging out with fun people.

On Saturday, Miss Sheri, and I drove down to Clear Lake, Iowa for the Christmas by the Lake Festival.  We connected with our old buddies, Krazy Kory, Ron "Sugarman" Myers, and Joel Anderson along with their families.  A good time was inevitable.

Kory's dad Gene was one of the original creators of the Christmas by the Lake festival and is currently the Chairman of the event.  It's nice knowing people with connections.

I had never eaten real chestnuts roasting on an open fire before but must admit they were pretty tasty.

There were plenty of horse-drawn carriages we could ride.  Ron's kids even earned a few bucks by walking around town behind the horses to pick up their Christmas gifts to the community.

We bumped into a lot of old friends including the Clear Lake Mirror Reporter's photographer extraordinaire, Chris Barragy.  I always enjoy seeing his photos of various North Iowa events so asked him if I could take a photo with him to return the favor.

Soon enough, we were treated to a beautiful sunset and then we knew the real party was about to begin.

The parade was pretty incredible with all sorts of festive floats rolling around in front of us.

We were all pretty much worked into a frenzy by the time it was over.

There were some fears that the fireworks would be cancelled due to high winds, but we were lucky enough for the show to go on and were treated to an awesome show.  There were a couple of big explosions that blew us all away.

After the show, we stopped by our good buddy Jason Bradshaw's birthday party which was being held at Rookie's.  It was a great chance to connect with a bunch of good friends.

There was a lot of milk and cookies to be enjoyed by all.

We didn't make it too late of an evening since we were driving back to Minnesota, but the time we did spend there was quite exciting.  

We had to get back to town so we could take Grandma Linda out for her birthday breakfast on Sunday.  This wonderful lady is celebrating turning 77 years old this week.  I told her I swear she doesn't look a day older than 76 which I think she really appreciated.  Happy Birthday, Mom!