Cardboard boat racing one of many events of Family Day at Broadway Lake, see the photos

The 12th annual Family Day at Broadway Lake, one of the last significant free summer events in Anderson County before the first week of school, was held on an overcast Saturday morning, July 20. It featured the Carolina Show Ski Team, locally homemade cardboard boats racing to the finish, food trucks, a children's face painting and craft booth, Broadway Lake Baptist Church offering free water and snacks, and Anderson County PAWS.

The event, hosted by Friends of Broadway Lake and partly sponsored by Upstate Federal Credit Union, lasted four hours, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The day started with the first cardboard boat race featuring area fire departments. Flat Rock Bowen Station, Broadway Station and Homeland Park took their homemade boats, red with a black stripe through them, to the water, with their best two paddlers for each boat. The boats were designed with the rule of only using cardboard and duct tape. Every year, there is a winner, and at least one absorbs more lake water than it can handle and sinks.

John Steely, co-director, said, "Believe it or not, most boats make it. Some of them will sink, but that's part of the fun."

Chief Ronald Wood and Matt Green of Homeland Park Fire Station 3 got a big lead but never gave up and won first place in the $500 category. Chief Wood said the department's prize money goes to a fund to buy bottled water for the station.

Broadway Fire Station 8 won second place and the $300 prize with paddlers Matt Turner and Matt Dukes.

At 11 a.m., the Carolina Show Ski Team took center stage with youth and elders showing their talent. A small swimming pool with circulating water had a booth where children made a miniature creation of a cardboard boat with duct tape, minutes before the five-boat charity class boat race.

Jerry Hanson, co-director of the event, said, "It's a fun day. They love the water skiing show that we have every year, but on top of that, it's the cardboard boat races to see who finishes because sometimes they don't get that far," he added.

Ultimately, Darryl Gambrell and Lily Gambrell won Freedom Fences, the $1,000 first-place prize. Marla Doran and April McGee with Grace's Gals' Vets Helping Vets boat second place for $750, and Isaiah Pingie and Daysi Sanchez led the Anderson Free Clinic boat to third place and a $500 prize. Family Promise finished fourth, and First Light finished fifth.