The Last Blast party (Sep 2) was organized and managed mainly by the CBC staff (thank you!). The theme was Greek Olympics and teams participated in various games throughout the day, including horseshoes, vollyball/badminton, croquet, cornhole, ladder golf, egg relay, and more. Games were set up on the lawn, swim beach, dining room, and Hobie beach. Prizes were awarded.
The games were followed up with a Greek style buffet (gyro bar, dirty rice, green beans, soup & salad, Baclava, and citrus cheesecake), and a DJ playing tunes on the patio until late in the evening. Special drinks and a satellite bar on the patio enhanced the fun, as well as the togas worn by the staff. All in all, a great day and evening to celebrate the end of the summer season. We look forward to increased participation and even more fun next year for the Last Blast!

A sort of drab day with rain and clouds did not keep CBC members from enjoying themselves. You'd think with Martini and Karaoke on the same night, you would get a lot of karaoke singers showing their stuff. And you would be right! About 30 people showed up to participate in karaoke right after the sampling of martinis. The martini menu had a wonderful variety of 5 different martinis. The list (click on menu to see larger size) included The Witness, Wedding Cake, Thin Mint (reported to be the favorite) and others. All of these concoctions were a delight to taste. And bonus...you got to keep the special martini glass provided with your drink! 
Karaoke followed (emceed by Tim) with many people doing solos, duets, and trios, as well as performing several times. The crowd was enthusiastic often singing out the chorus lines or simply jumping up and getting into dance mode. A great night no matter the weather. Hopefully, we will have even more participants (and fun!) next year.

The Poker Run took on a bit of a different tone this year as long time club member and sponsor, Larry Rubis, retired from organizing the event giving others a chance to continue this great endeavor. This year Lynn Burgess stepped up to fill the void left by Larry, and created a Mardi Gras themed poker run, which benefited two charity organizations; Meals on Wheels and Hunting with Heroes.
Purple, green, and gold were the predominant colors as members decorated their boats and created costumes for the event based on a Mardi Gras theme. After picking up their poker cards at various stops around the lake, the final stop was the east side of Goose Island where a massive floating dock had been constructed. People stopped for burgers and hot dogs, graciously prepared by Wheels on Meals staff. As some boats left, others came in to take their place. While the parking was somewhat limited, all agreed this was a really great concept and enjoyed the idea of meeting in the middle of the lake. Judging of boats and costumes was done at the island. Winners will be posted here shortly.
After the "run," members enjoyed a great dinner on the lawn at the Club, along with games, an auction to raise money for the charities, and great DJ music after. The auction had some great items for bid, including packaged meat, vacation in Costa Rica, and water toys, to name a few. Total amount given to the charities is still being determined and will be posted here when calculations are complete.
All in all, a great time was had by all. If you didn't participate in this year's Poker Run, put it on your list for next year. Not only is it a good time, but it helps our Casper Community charity programs. Check out some pics below.

Imagine a warm summer evening, sitting on a lawn with a lake view, drinking your favorite drink, and listening to some of your favorite music performed by a great live band! That's what the evening of July 21 was like for the CBC members who attended the show put on by the Grease Monkeys Band. A great summer night provided all the atmosphere needed for everyone to enjoy the sounds of the band with great conversation and dancing all evening. What started out as a "Hey, let's see if we can get a band to play on the patio one night," turned into a sort of, "Best Summer Ever," theme night (no costumes), with CBC members enjoying dancing on the lawn to the sounds of one of our favorite bands (the Grease Monkeys have played at the Beach Party event for several years). Dancing and socializing was the order of the night. One of our members, Rick M. even showed his skill as a band member when he played and sang, 'Ridin' the Storm Out' with the band. A fairly large crowd experienced the show with perhaps as many as 100 members being present during the evening. Thanks to the Grease Monkeys for providing us an evening of great entertainment, and thanks to our CBC community for making this a great event. Maybe next year will be another, 'Best Summer Ever!?'

​All of the members of Casper Boat Club make up the Casper Boat Club Community. Every person within the Community contributes to the Club in their own way. Some help organize and plan events, some help bus tables when needed, and some pick up trash on the grounds (among many other things). 
On July 9-10, when the Club was closed for some needed cleaning, a small group of members dedicated an extraordinary amount of time to help with that task. These members cleaned all the windows in the patio and Club, washed all of the burgees in the club and rehung them, painted the chairs and table used on the patio, and re-organized storage closets and shelves. Lots of hours went into this cleaning project by these members to help the staff with the “deep clean” during these two days. A big thank you to these members for their unselfish contribution of time and effort to help improve the environment at the Club. The members who contributed to this project include Rick Means, Nancy Means, and their guests; Tammie Walters, Stacy Baldwin, Evan Baldwin, and Brad Baldwin. 
There are many other CBC members who have contributed to the Club community. If you know of any of these members, please contact a Board Member or send a message to this email. We will do our best to recognize these members on the website.

Casper Boat Club sponsors the annual July 4th fireworks display each year for CBC members, friends, relatives, and Alcova area residents. As usual, it was another spectacular show this year. Sadly, Andrew Burgess, after managing the show for us for ten years decided to step aside. However, our Club responded by sending four member volunteers to receive fireworks training, so that we could continue the CBC fireworks tradition. And...we did it! The show went off without a hitch and everyone enjoyed a fantastic fireworks display on July 4th.
One of the best things about the CBC fireworks display is the location and atmosphere. It's hard to top seeing fireworks shoot off the island over the water, and hearing the echoes across the lake. People find their favorite locations to enjoy the display; beach, lawn, hillside, boats, deck, whatever. A truly great event and thanks to CBC, an awesome annual event that we plan to continue for years to come. If you would like to make a donation to cover the cost of the fireworks for next year, please stop by the Club to fill out a form, or call the Club for further information.
It would not be appropriate to post this article without recognizing and thanking the member volunteers for their time and effort in making this event so successful. Special thanks go to Rob Vondra, Pat Burgen, Ken Denman, and Rick Means. These members attended an all day training so that we not only have someone who can manage the display, but we have built in redundancy by having several people trained. Also, a big thank you to Rob Vondra, Pat Burgen, Ken Denman, and Tom Stokes for doing the "island work." This includes setting up the fireworks canisters, filling them with the fireworks powder, and connecting them to the computer board. In addition, once the actual fireworks powder is placed in the canisters, someone must be present at all times to make sure wayward water sport enthusiasts do not come on to the island. A necessary safety precaution for all.
There is also the transportation of all the canisters and equipment to and from the island to be considered. Again, several members volunteered to do the loading and unloading on and off the barge of canisters, fireworks, and various other equipment needed to make the fireworks display possible. This takes several hours of work for several people, on the day before (July 3) and the day after (July 5). Instead of boating and partying with family and friends, these members put in long hours to make the fireworks display a success. Also, a special shout out to Lynn Burgess for organizing the training and moving the fireworks storage container to and from the front dock.
Below is a list of member volunteers that helped make the fireworks possible for 2018. If you know or see any of these members during your time at the lake, give them a hearty "Thank You." They deserve it!
​And please....consider volunteering yourself next year for this project. It's one way you can give back to the Casper Boat Club Community.

Casper Boat Club Fireworks Volunteers - 2018
​Rob Vondra, Pat Burgen, Ken Denman, Tom Stokes, Larry Stevens Jr., Rick Means, Nathan Vondra, Howard Oden, Austin Vondra, Donovan Short, Andrew Burgess, Dave McMahan, Lynn Burgess, Extreme Performance (pontoon barge).

Another successful Beach Party, although marred a bit by weather. Kids enjoyed the games provided by the entertainment committee, and the burgers and dogs were excellent, cooked on the barbecue right at the beach house. There was plenty of seating and when the weather turned a bit cooler with some sprinkles, the "campfire" was a hit. Eventually rain forced the party to move to the dining room at the club. However, this turned out to be the perfect venue for Aquile, and members enjoyed his music for the remainder of the evening.

Once again the annual Canyon to Curve Fun Run ran into some inclement weather on May 28. Even though the skies were gray, the temperature was at least warm enough, and the rain held off long enough for the Run to take place. Approximately 35 people participated in the event and everyone enjoyed the outside activity as well as the breakfast and drinks afterwards. Results of the Run are posted below.
Thanks to the Gruners for organizing this event, and as always, thanks to the CBC staff for their help and cooperation.

Hey Members....
Just for fun, I thought I'd relate a somewhat surprising story (at least for me) about our webcam. I've been working to get the webcam up and running, and for now at least it appears I have succeeded👏🏼. However, as I was working on the camera setup, the image seemed a little blurry. I thought it was me at first, but after viewing it on several computers, I realized it was the camera. So I tried adjusting the focus through the camera's software and...not much help😐. I dug into the manual 🤓 and figured out how to adjust the focus directly on the camera. To do that, I had to remove the front plexiglass cover (that along with the housing enclosure protects the camera from the elements) so that I could physically adjust the camera. So while I had it apart, I thought it would be a good idea to check the picture quality using the camera directly without the protective plexiglass plate. After all, the camera is fairly old so maybe it doesn't really generate a quality photo? Imagine my surprise when I saw the image the camera produced!😮 (see below) It appears over time, the protective cover has become weathered and this causes the image to be blurry. So I immediately contacted the company to see if we could get a new plexiglass cover for the protective housing. After several phone calls including Texas and Colorado, we may be close to resolving our blurriness issue👍🏼. I've ordered a new cover and it should be here within a few days. If I can figure out how to install it🤔, our webcam pic should be much clearer than before. It may not be as sharp as if we were viewing directly from the camera (because of the thickness of the plexiglass) but it should be much better. And if it isn't? Well, at least we tried.😃 Hoping to have this all fixed by sometime next week. Keep your eyes on the camera!👀
UPDATE (5/19): They sent us the wrong part!☹️ Will re-order on Monday.😠