Category Archives: Town Events
Culver Indiana Photographer: 2010 Lakefest
This past weekend, I took some photos at a few of the events during Culver’s Lakefest Weekend. I’ve posted several photos from the Miss Maxinkuckee Competition, Lakefest Parade, the Car Show, and the Talent Show at www.culverphotos.com/2010_lakefest
Culver Indiana Photography: Boys and Girls Club Auction
On June 18, we attended the Culver Boys & Girls Club auction event. This year, Ginny was once again heavily involved in the event. The CBGC board was kind enough to give her a plaque for her work on the auction event. This year, the theme was “A Night at the Speedway,” and I have to say that the way the auction committee transformed the Lay Dining Hall at Culver Academies was amazing. Carol Zeglis was in charge of decorating and she paid attention to every detail. She even wrapped the potted plants in checkered paper. There was a race track for wiggle machine races, which were hysterical. I have to admit that I particiated in the races. I have to get some of those machines for my nieces and nephews! Mary Szymusiak, who was in charge of check-in and check-out, raced against me. She beat me in the practice round, but I won the race round. Mary’s husband Jim did a great job of running the races and MCing the live auction at which Ginny won the Peyton Manning rookie jersey that Peyton autographed back in ’98! I wasn’t there during the live auction, as I was out checking on a friend’s house. As some of you may have heard, there was a bad storm Friday night. We lost power for about an hour, and then, when the generators kicked on, the dining hall was the only building in Culver with power. Thankfully, the guests stayed, and though the turnout was much lower than anticipated, all of the event organizers were happy with the results of the evening.
If you haven’t made a donation to the Boys & Girls Club in awhile, take the time to support the kids. And hopefully, we’ll see you at next year’s auction event! The planners of this year’s auction are already planning the theme for next year’s event. It’s sure to be great. In the meantime, check out some photos of the great food (provided by City Diner), the fantastic decorations and donations, and some of the people at the event.
Culver Indiana Photography: CCHS Graduation
On Friday night, I attended Culver Community High School’s Graduation Ceremony at the gymnasium at the High School. I’ve always enjoyed watching this ceremony, as doing so drives home for me what life in a small town is all about… the community. During the event, I often look around and notice a few other people I know. Like myself, these people do not have kids or grandkids graduating. Instead, they attend to show support for the students and their community. I wanted to shoot the event to ensure someone was capturing this event.
Unlike many graduations that I’ve photographed over the years, the mood of this ceremony is joyous, and the students are truly happy knowing they will see other over the summer months to come and before going off to college or careers. As you can see in the photos, the ceremony ends with a big bang and a lot of silly string! This appears to be a tradition at the school, as I’ve now witnessed it three times. Congrats to all of the Culver seniors. We wish you many successes in your future. Following are some photos from the evening’s celebration. You can find more at http://www.culverphotos.com/2010cchsgrad.
Culver Indiana Photography: Tour de Max
Yesterday morning started early for Ginny and me, especially given it was a Saturday. We were up at 6 a.m. and out the door by 7 a.m. We were asked to be the photographers for the local chapter of Tri Kappa’s annual Tour de Max. Each year, Tri Kappa holds its Tour de Max, which is a fun ride for cyclists and draws over 150 participants from the surrounding states. This year, Karen Heim and her Tri Kappa sisters did a great job of organizing the event. The parking lot at the town park was almost full when we arrived, and when we quit shooting at 11:00, it was completely full. Riders had the option of cycling set courses of 10, 30, or 63 miles long. All rides started with a scenic ride around Lake Maxinkuckee. If riding one of the longer courses, the riders continued into the beautiful country roads that surround Culver. (If you are a follower of my blog, you’ve probably seen some of the scenic discoveries that Ginny and I have come across as we wander the country roads looking for things to photograph.) We had a good time setting ourselves up at various locations. We also shot some of the SAG stops where riders check in and get refreshments. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time shooting the riders. We hope they had as much fun as we did!
We are donating all proceeds from photo sales from yesterday’s event. We’ve posted some photos here. There are over 300 more located at www.culverphotos.com/2010tourdemax.
Culver Indiana Photography: Donkey Basketball
This evening, I went to the CCHS gym to watch and photograph donkey basketball. Having never seen this sport before, I really had no idea of what to expect. Even now after sitting through several games, I don’t think that I’ll do it justice to describe it. Donkey basketball is a hoot to watch as it is more about trying to get on and stay on the donkeys. Once on, trying to get them to move is quite a challenge. One of the best moments came in the beginning when I was checking my camera and the announcer came on the loud speaker and said quite loudly, “so-and-so is making a break for it”. I looked up to see a man with the basketball leading 7 other donkeys as he went toward the opposite end. Of course, he and the 7 other donkeys and riders were moving at the blinding pace that I could have past them had I been crawling along the ground. Things would progress at this rate until the man that cared for the donkeys would bang a stick against the ground and the animals would go nuts. Some would run, some would buck, and others reared. As I’m sure that you can see in the photos, I was not the only person laughing my butt off. If the whole event weren’t funny enough to begin with, add to it the fact that the “players” were Culver’s Police Cheif and an officer, our Town Manager, our Town Clerk, some firemen, teachers, coaches, our local newspaper reporter, and even some high school students.
I’ve posted some photos here. There are hundreds more at www.culverphotos.com/donkeybasketball. If you do visit the website, take notice of the photos of standalone donkeys. These photos came about whenever the donkeys threw their riders and managed to escape for a minute or two.
Culver Indiana Photographer: Relay For Life 2010
Ginny and I attended Relay for Life as photographers this year. We are donating all purchased pictures to Relay for Life. Following are scenes from what turned out to be a great evening. The guest of honor was Adam Vinatieri who was a gracious person. He spoke at the event and then walked several laps. He also signed footballs and talked to several of the participants. Several keynote speakers, including survivors spoke at the event. Last I heard, they were getting close to their goal for this year’s event. If you want to purchase pictures, visit Culverphotos.com and look under Community Events.
Culver Indiana Photographer: Chairs for Charity
Ginny is a member of Tri Kappa, a women’s chairity organization here in Culver. They held a chairs for charity auction and asked me to shoot some pictures. I thought this selection of chairs would be most interesting. They had several chairs representing every type of method of artistry among them. One was a knit chair, some were painted, some were upholstered, some were decorated for a specific theme, and there were some unusual, one-of-a-kind pieces. They raised over $7,000, which is impressive in our little town. Congratulations to all of the artists who contributed and to the Tri Kappa women who hosted a classy event.
Culver Indiana Photographer: Boys and Girls Club Charity Auction
This year, Ginny was in charge of the Boys and Girls Club chairity auction. They went with a “Fabulous 50s Night” theme. It was a fabulous night, as they not only had a great party, but they raised over $40,000 for the Culver Boys and Girls Club. Ginny was thrilled with the turnout. My favorite part of the event was the hula hoop contest. The auction committee planners recruited well-known people from town to participate in a hula hoop contest that raised several thousand dollars. Chief of Police, Chief of Fire, the president of the town council, and many others hula hooped for money for the big event. They also had singer Quintin Flagg, a 50s singer, perform. He did a great job. The silent auction portion of the event was successful, and all seemed to have a good time. I captured a few pictures for the board, so that they could remember the evening.
Culver Indiana Photographer: CCHS Graduation
High school graduation is one of those defining moments in every students’ life. We had the honor of witnessing that moment for several of the students of Culver Community High School. Shooting in a gymnasium without the proper lens or lighting proved to be a challenge, but I enjoyed attempting it.
Brittany Cowell and Miles Pinder, two of the kids we’ve watched grow up in Culver, graduated and did their parents proud. Miles was kind enough to frame one of the pictures I took of him and displayed it at his grad party. We also took pictures of Brittany’s grad party, which was a great party. We not only ate some great food, but we captured some of Brittany’s friends honor her on her big day. It’s always an honor for us to be a part of someone’s celebration. Though we felt older having seen a child Ginny’s family has known since birth graduate high school, we enjoyed celebrating with the Cowell family. The Cowell family and Pinder family should be proud of the truly wonderful people Brittany and Miles have become.
