LAKEPORT?Despite some drizzle, about 30 planes of all types splashed into Clear Lake for the 28th annual Clear Lake Splash-In.
Vendors at the many booths spent the day selling their goods while pilots spread their knowledge about aircraft to the more than 1,000 spectators wandered from Library Park to Natural High School (NHS) Saturday carrying cheerfully bright umbrellas.
The family-oriented event was especially popular with children, and pilots stayed by their craft at a display of about 20 different seaplanes in the field near NHS to answer questions to folks of all ages. “It”s this type of event that makes seaplanes different,” said pilot Dan Staton of Concord, as he stood near his UC-1 seaplane, or the “bee” as some colloquially call the model.
“You can”t just fly to an event like this in a regular plane,” said Staton, referring to the crowd of roughly 30 bystanders who stood at the choppy shores of Clear Lake as planes skidded to a landing just one hundred feet off shore. Siblings Ben Evens, 10, and Michael Evens, 9, took a moment snapping photographs of each other goofing off in front of the seaplanes before turning to their mom, Jennifer Evens of Lakeport, peppering her with questions.
“I think they want to be pilots now,” she said as she laughed.
At Library Park, numerous vendors sold their goods from morning until breaking camp at 5 p.m. after the rain had been more then just a drizzle for several hours.
“The day started out really nice, weather-wise,” said Debby Clover of Clover Crystal Connection in Lucerne, who had a booth selling jewelry and crystal art at the festival in Library Park.
“I”m really pleased with the turn-out, we had probably 1,000 people in the park today, and I had a steady stream of customers. Even with the rain this is an event people want to come to,” Clover said.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com
