Wet Weather Couldn’t Stop This Party

It didn’t feel like a typical late May morning on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Instead of the usual warm, humid weather, the Memorial Day tennis tournament and walk/run were greeted with overcast skies and a cool breeze—which the tennis players and runners didn’t seem to mind.

Everything was off to a great start: the tournament winners had been declared, the top runners took home medals for the race, and the Conference Center grounds were set up with tents, tables and chairs for the Anniversary Party.

And then the sky grew dark. A flash of lightning, a crack of thunder. It began to rain. And rain. And rain. Dedicated IBK volunteers grabbed blowing papers, soggy party registration books and hunkered down to wait out the storm under the Conference Center porch roof. The designated start time of the party, 1 p.m., came and went… and it was still raining. Not only raining, but pouring. The party start time was pushed back to 1:45, and we finally heard the official party start sound of the cannon being fired around 2 o’clock.

The deluge didn’t stop more than 3,000 people from partying it up that afternoon. The buffet lines were soggy, but the corndogs and pretzels were delicious. The stage was damp but the band rocked anyway. The tents kept the rain off the patriotic Camp Innsbrook crafts, and the beer flowed freely (into PINK cups!) all afternoon. In short, it was a great (but wet) party.