Several people with disabilities used a special ski for some summer fun Saturday in Fort Loudoun Lake in East Tennessee.
Festival of Friends made a big return to Lenoir City Park after being forced to cancel last year due to COVID-19.
“What we found is that the majority of folks that we run into, our group, have been vaccinated or had COVID,” Al Kaye, Patricia Neal Innovative Recreation Center program coordinator, said. “It’s one of the things we check is for health protection and understanding and then there’s a COVID screening when they register that we do. Even though there’s not a mandate here in this county, we still follow safety precautions.”
Kaye got the sense people were excited to return.
“It’s the ability to go outside their normal box per se,” Kaye said. “They’re getting to try something that takes a certain skillset and a certain amount of resources, which normally aren’t available, and so that’s what we’re able to provide. Everybody’s here for free and it’s just an open event and recognition that, ‘If I can do this I can do anything.’
“… Everybody needs an opportunity to enjoy a good quality life and to be able to enjoy water and sunshine and just have fun,” he added. “This is an opportunity for folks to try things that they may not have done before and for those that have water skied on East Tennessee Lakes to improve their skillset.”
Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center, Lenoir City Parks and Recreation Department and the Pilot Club of Lenoir City have teamed up for about two decades to make the festival possible.
“It’s an understanding of camaraderie and supporting the community and for awareness,” Kaye said. “We started this with Randy Gaston, who asked us to bring an event over here and just demonstrate what folks can do on the water. Enjoy themselves, have a good time and relax. We’re going to have great weather today with no rain, and so it’s an opportunity for folks to get out of their box and start getting back into activities.”
One by one, thrill-seekers got in the water and whizzed around on adaptive water boards. Visitors were fed by the Pilot Club while listening to Ethan Vincil perform.
For Knoxville resident Sarah Boggess, there’s something special about being on the water. She has attended four or five years.
“I don’t know, there’s something about the lake that’s really calming and really relaxing,” Boggess said. “Skiing is just tons of fun and it’s an experience you can’t have at any other time for us.”
Tellico Village resident Warren Parthen has volunteered for 20 years.
“Just to give something back to people that need recreation to go on with their daily lives and have some fun,” Parthen said. “We take them skiing, we take them snow skiing, we take them golfing. We have shooting, we do scuba and those kind of sports.
“… I get a lot of enjoyment, personal satisfaction,” he added. “They have about five a year. We have one at Douglas Lake and one at Norris Lake, one at Watts Bar lake, one here and then one in Fontana.”
Original Article Posted on News-Herald.
Reposted by Karen Millikan, Lakefront Living, On The Lake Realty, TN