(Katrina Elsken and the
Okeechobee News staff pulled together to help us play a highly visible
role in one of the biggest (and ‘wettest’) community events of the year, the
Kiwanis “Minimal Regatta”. Katrina was able to also harness youth
volunteers from the 4-H Picture Perfect Photo Club (a group she founded)
to participate in the event and represent the Okeechobee News in a fun
way. Kudos to Katrina for her initiative and leadership, as well as the
creativity and effort the Okeechobee team showed in making this
happen. Next year, we hope to springboard our involvement in
this wildly popular new event into a special section with S.S. Newshound
figuring prominently! --Tom Byrd Florida President)
By
Katrina Elsken
Editor,
Okeechobee News
Okeechobee
County 4H Picture Perfect Photography Club represented the Okeechobee News in
the Third Annual Adam Bryant Minimal Regatta boat races on Oct. 5.
The
Adam Bryant Minimal Regatta is a homemade boat race. Teams are given one piece
of plywood, three 2" by 4"s, a pound of screws and a roll of duct
tape and build their own boats. Paint may be used for decoration, but not for
water proofing.
The
event honors Adam, a young volunteer firefighter who dreamed of becoming a
firefighter/EMT. Before Adam could complete firefighter/EMT training he
broke his neck in an accident and was paralyzed. He died a few years later. His
friends organized the first regatta to honor him by raising money to fund a
scholarship for other young people who want to go to firefighter/EMT training.
Each year, they award a $5,000 scholarship to a a local graduating high school
senior. This year, they also hoped to raise money for equipment for a
playground for disabled children.
This
year the regatta attracted 88 entries, who donated a minimum of $200 each for
the honor of competing (gold level sponsors gave at least $1,000; platinum
level gave at least $5,000.)
The
Okeechobee News made an "in kind" donation of advertising to the
community event.
With
our small staff, we couldn't manage to handle the boat and the event booth
ourselves, but we wanted to participate in this very public event.
So
we offered our spot to the Okeechobee 4H Photo Club, Picture Perfect. I am the
adult leader for the club and the members serve as "cub
reporters" with their own press passes provided by the newspaper.
The
club photographed the regatta last year, but did not have the resources to
enter a boat. It looked like so much fun, they wanted to have their own boat
this year.
Using
materials provided by the regatta, the club members built their own boat. They
also decorated it, with some help from a member's very artistic older sister.
The theme of the regatta was "beach life" so the boat featured a
scene with Newshound on a surf board.
Since
teams were expected to dress for the event, we opted for making our own
T-Shirts. Kristina Schwartz at the Okeechobee News helped turn a club member's
photo into a T-shirt design. Okeechobee News' Ann Hines used an ink jet printer
to printed the design on special transfer paper which the club ironed
onto t-shirts. The finished shirts were inexpensive but very professional
looking.
For
the booth, we used the basic set up the club used at the Top of the Lake Art
Festival, which was decorated with photos club members had taken, along with
the banner proclaiming the "Okeechobee News" as an event sponsor. An
alligator cutout, borrowed from the Okeechobee County Extension Office, added
to the booth decorations.
The
team had a great time at the regatta, entering races in two age categories. The
team did not win, but were happy to chant about success at boat building:
"We didn't sink! We didn't sink!"
The
regatta attracted about 3,500 spectators. Our boat was even one of the ones
featured on the Channel 12 news coverage Saturday night.
In
addition to representing the newspaper, the club members were invited to be
official regatta event photographers -- earning community service hours.
The
young photographers took more than 600 photos at the regatta ... which
can be found on their facebook page. (A link to the page is on the Okeechobee
News facebook page.) These photos will be used by the regatta organizers to
promote future events.
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4H
Picture Perfect Photography Club Logo Sponsored by Okeechobee News
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4H
Picture Perfect Photography Club members include (left to right) Emilee Yeates,
Michael Muros, Katie Muldoon and Andrew Smiley. They set up and manned
the Okeechobee News booth at the regatta. The club's adult leader is Okeechobee
News editor Katrina Elsken.
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The
boat decorations included Newshound on a surfboard.
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S.S.
Newshound underway with Michael Muros as rower.
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