PRESS RELEASE
JULY 29, 2019
More than 50 boats and 250 boaters participated in the first ever “Shake The Lake” charity boating event on Saturday July 27th, at the Dockside on the Cove Restaurant in the community of Lighthouse Cove, Ontario, Canada. The event was deemed a huge success, and organizers expect to donate close to $10,000 to the Tilbury and Lighthouse Lions Clubs, who helped put on the event.
The boats paraded by onlookers out of the canals at the Lighthouse Cove to the mouth of the Thames River where they blasted off on their way to Mitchell’s Bay. They continued on to the mouth of the Detroit River at the Windsor Yacht Club, for their next poker chip, until docking for lunch at the Sandbar Waterfront Grill, in Puce, ON. The last stop was the Marina at Belle River, before finishing off their tour of the Canadian side of Lake St. Clair, back at the Dockside Restaurant.
Boater’s enjoyed a beautiful sunny day, the seas were mostly calm but there were some challenging conditions on the Windsor leg. Multiple offshore boats participated, some capable of speeds of over 120 miles per hour, but the run featured boats of all shapes and sizes.
Organizer Brian Modde was quick to credit the support of the local business community, for making the run such a success in its first year, “Robert at Walker Marine Sales jumped on board as soon as we explained what our goals were, and the support kept coming”.
“Boating is something that is more fun when you do it with all your friends, we also wanted to have an event that would showcase our great community here in Lighthouse Cove and raise money for local causes” said fellow organizer, Adam Lally.
The event was completely sold out within weeks after tickets were printed, and the rookie organizers were admittedly scrambling to handle such a big crowd, but thanks to support from the Town of Lakeshore, Councillor Linda McKinlay and many local Lighthouse residents who stepped up; all attendees were raving.
“The only thing better than the boating was the after party, great food and great music” said Jason Ritter, a participant who came from Michigan, and drove his Eliminator catamaran in the run.
The event featured a morning acoustic performance by local artist Nick Hedden, and in the evening, Chatham band “The Chasers” had the crowd dancing into the night.
The “Shake The Lake 2019” organizers would like to thank the many volunteers, the Lighthouse and Tilbury Lions Clubs, participants, the awesome staff at the Dockside Restaurant, and of course the sponsors who made it all possible:
Walker Marine
Tilbury Automall
CSN Collision
Tilbury Preferred Transport/Preferred Salt
Delta Power Equipment
Festival Tent
Frank Dupuis Landscaping
Brokerlink Insurance
Deerbrook Realty/Cassandra Duquette
Simpson Electric
AMR Avellino Machine Repair
Dupuis Used Equipment
C-Tow
Dockside On The Cove Restaurant
Sandbar Waterfront Grill
There’s no official word yet on whether this will go on to be an annual event, but if initial feedback from participants and the community is any indicator, we expect that Lake St. Clair might see more “shaking” in 2020.
