Saturday maybe wasn’t the perfect day for a paddle around Arc Lake, but it was pretty close. The city of Soldotna hosted a community paddling event, designed to share some safety tips and give folks a chance to try out some new boats and activities, like paddle board yoga, which I did not get to try. That class filled up quickly, but there was a fashion show of sorts.
Makai-Lynn Smith is an intern at the parks department in Soldotna. She helped organize the event.
“It was actually my direct supervisor (Assistant Parks and Rec Director) Joel Todd's idea originally. He said basically, just run with it. So I made some phone calls and bought some hamburgers and we're here. Water safety and paddling go hand in hand, obviously. We have a huge, existing water sport community out here. We have a bunch of facebook groups and guys who go float the river every night. We wanted to get them down here and give them a place to hang out and meet new people. The message for the kids is wear your life jacket because we have had too many water accidents this year already and the summer is just starting, so be careful, be safe.”