Clam Lake News & Events

Hello Clam Lake!

The cooler days are reminding us that Fall isn’t too far off. Already one sees the stray colored leaf here and there. Before we know it the bulk of the summer tourist season will be behind us for another year. As always, it’s been a great one and it’s not over yet! One of the biggest weekends of the season is almost upon us – Labor Day! Can we handle it? You bet we can!!!

PICKLEBALL: We had prefect weather for our Tuesday Pickleball games. Nice and cool with a few clouds. We’ll take it! We welcomed back John Ruth whom, with his wife Judy, has returned “home” for the month. John thanked Jerry Jossart for giving him the idea to paint a Pickleball court on his driveway in Iowa. Now, he said, they are happily playing Pickelball all the time! His wife Judy is the former Judy Bezanson of Birchwood on Dells Lake. The Bezansons have been a part of our Clam Lake summer family for many years. Ken, whom is a new employee at the Elkhorn also joined us for a few games. Fun! On the canine front, Trax and Lucky were on hand to act as referees to keep us in line. Thanks go out to them!

ST. GEORGE”S CHAPEL: Our chapel will be closing it’s doors for the summer season after Labor Day, so the countdown is on to enjoy worship in our historic “Chapel in the Woods”. Mass is said Saturdays at 4:00 pm. Come and enjoy services in our simple chapel surrounded by the forest it was made from – AND as a special send off for our summer chapel season we will be having a Thank-You! Mass at 6:00 pm on Saturday, September 7th followed by a Pot Luck for Father after the Mass. There will be a sign up sheet with details at St. George’s for this event.

The Elk Country ATV Club would like to thank everyone that came out for their Brat Feed this past Saturday. They had a great day for it! Everyone seemed to be having a fine time visiting with friends and neighbors while supporting this great club.

Saturday was also the day of the Forest Riders monthly meat raffle held at Ransom’s Place. Not wanting to break with tradition, Jack and Barb Cook once again were big winners along with Gail and Tom McDonnell. Several ATVers also particpated in the raffle including folks from Fall Creek and Mondovi. Jack Elsie’s grandkids stopped in for a chance at a win but sadly, came away empty handed. According to Gail, “Other than that, everyone else won something”. I wish to express my thanks to Gail for sending me a recap of this great event.

As always our little village is a busy place with lots of positive things going on for our community. Thanks to all that make Clam such a great place to be!

A couple weeks ago I had a chance to catch up with Bill Faude from Chicago, over a cup of coffee. I hadn’t seen Bill in over five years so it was great to reconnect and remember the “good ole’ days”. Bill is the grandson of the late Clarence (CJ) and Evelyn Busch. Bill and his brother Doug used to spend most of their summers staying at the Busch cabin on Upper Clam Lake along with their parents, Bill and Barbara Faude. The brothers would hang out with my brother, David, and often be in our backwoods soda fountain. Lots of good memories! He talked of taking rides in Joe Vecchie’s light blue Jeep. Joe would jokingly charge a penny a ride for this treat. Joe and CJ were the best of friends. I remember the boys playing with a parachute we had gotten somewhere and using it to jump off of our minnow house roof (when no one was looking). The boys were always busy canoeing, sailing, fishing, playing baseball, trying to build forts on Camp Fire Island, having fun and eating lots of ice cream! Those were the days!!

Until next week……enjoy these last weeks of summer!!

Pictured is Bill Faude and myself.