Holiday weekend offers fun for a good cause locally

If you’re looking for something to do this Memorial Day weekend and want to help out some good causes along the way, then you don’t have to look much further than Williamsburg.

Officials will hold the annual Duck Derby at the Kentucky Splash Waterpark at 6 p.m. Friday.

Spectators can purchase rubber ducks for $5 each and the ducks are dumped into the Lazy River with the top finisher winning a 37" Flat Screen television.

Proceeds will benefit Relay for Life.

After that head on over to the Williamsburg Hillbilly Mud Bog at 7 p.m. and watch four-wheeled ATVs zoom through mud filled pits with the winners getting cash prizes. The competition for Jeeps and trucks will start at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Proceeds from the mud bog will benefit the McCreary County ATV and OHV Club and the Williamsburg Shop with a Cop program.

For people that don’t know all of these are good charities.

Relay for Life is an annual event held to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I think you would have to look hard and long to find someone, whose family or friends haven’t been touched by cancer in some way.

The Williamsburg Shop with a Cop program started about five years ago in Williamsburg. The whole goal is to raise money to be used to take needy children on shopping sprees at Christmas.

If you want to see something that will make your heart feel good, then stop at Wal-Mart when the shopping spree is going on and see the smiles on these kids’ faces.

You would think that a kid that doesn’t have much would want to spend $100 solely on themselves for toys, but often this isn’t the case. Many times, these children will also use the money to buy presents for family members.
It’s a cause that I’ve tried to give to myself over the years.

I don’t know that much about the McCreary County ATV and OHV Club, but I can tell you the group is dedicated to establishing and maintaining trails for four-wheeler use.

Adventure tourism as it is increasingly being called is a growing market, and is something that has been touted by our governor among others.

While personally not my cup of tea, I think we would be well served by forming such a club in Whitley County to promote the establishment of recreational four-wheeler trails. We have the perfect terrain for it, and it could be a good bandwagon to jump on.

Switching gears here a little bit, let me just encourage anyone near the courthouse at lunch time Wednesday to stop by for the Brown Bag Bash, which is an annual fundraiser by the Williamsburg High School Choir and Band programs.

Volunteers will be fixing up hotdogs and polish sausages on the courthouse lawn, and selling bag lunches with the proceeds going to the two programs.

Food will start being served at 11 a.m. and the entertainment will begin at noon with the choir and bands performing.
It’s hard to beat lunch and entertainment both for $5.

Speaking of entertainment, for those that didn’t make it to the choir and band’s annual concert Sunday, you missed a pretty good show.

I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of entertainment the summer brings us. Main Street Nannie Hays assures me that the summer block parties are set for a return again this year with more live bands performing at Bill Woods Park.

I think the new Aqua Twist double slide at the Kentucky Splash Waterpark will be a good addition. It’s the first major upgrade since the park opened, and it should help relieve long lines at the existing slide complex.

Given the location of the new tower, one has to wonder if waterpark officials are hoping to add another slide to it in the future.