CELINA — It was a great day for a round of mini-golf Saturday at Grand Lake St. Marys.
The Bar Stool Open is a fundraiser for the Lake Improvement Association.
“The Bar Stool Open takes Grand Lake [St. Marys] bars and restaurants, they create a putter golf hole and they’re different of all varieties, and we sign up teams to go out and play on these different holes. Four-man teams go out, they hit the lake by boat, by car, and they try to get the best score. They’re playing for cash, but really it’s all about getting people out to Grand Lake [St. Marys]. This year we have record numbers — we’re close to 200 teams this year,” said Nick Rentz, president of the Lake Improvement Association.
The 18th annual event is an important part of the LIA’s mission.
“It is our biggest fundraiser, without question. It does two things. It’s a great fundraiser for the LIA and it also brings massive traffic to the lake bars and restaurants, which is also the goal,” said Rentz.
Money raised from the Bar Stool Open will help the LIA with various projects and events.
“The fishing derby for special needs kids is going to be taking place in September. We do that on the east bank. Another fundraiser that’s coming up on Aug. 23 is the Seafood and Crawfish Boil. It’s going to be taking place at the Boardwalk Grill. There are still a few tickets left for that. One of our biggest projects this year is we’re going to be putting up — in memory of our fallen board member Stan Wilker — we’re going to be putting up a playground out at Windy Point. Stan used to take care of Windy Point and make sure that everything looked good out there. We’re going to be putting up a playground in his name and making sure that beach is taken care of because he did that himself. Obviously, we’re still doing the support role, so we’re still supporting all of the organizations, Ag Solutions, LRC (Lake Restoration Commission), putting up grant funding and that sort of thing to get money to Grand Lake [St. Marys].”
