By Deb Patterson
Editor-In-Chief

The 1960s were relived by those who participated and viewed the 60th Wawasee Flotilla, Saturday, July 3.Scooby Doo, The Flintstones, The Beatles, flower children, The Brady Bunch, the moon landing, Elvis and even Marilyn Monroe, and 60s music booming from boat stereos were highlights of entrants on land and water. Hard work and imagination was seen in every entry.

The flotilla kicked off with Bill McCully driving Sandy and the late Dick Green’s 1993 Century Coronado leading eight wooden, antique and classic boats. A short time later, with the help of the Wawasee Lake Patrol, this year’s Commodores, The Herdrich Family, led 22 parade entries on their counterclockwise journey around the lake. There were also six on-shore/pier entries boaters could view.

Families came out to their yards and on piers or gathered in boats around the lake to view this year’s entries.

The Herdrich family picked The Yellow Submarine entry by Women of Today as their choice for the Commodore’s Trophy. The trophy was awarded after the parade at the Spink Condo.

All other award winners picked up their prizes between 11 a.m. and noon Sunday, July 4, at The Channel Marker.

Additional winners of this year’s parade include:

• Wawasee Property Owners Association Award — The Nelson/Beaudre entry of Scooby Doo.
• Department of Natural Resources Award — Smoker/Steele families entry of the man on the moon.
• It’s All Good Award — Lyndan Tenney’s entry on Peace, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll.
• Lake Wawasee History Award — Jim Kroemer’s hippie entry.
• Youth Award — Thwaits-Yoder entry of Gilligan’s Island, first; Cherrie Castle’s entry of groovin’ on the lake, second.
• Most Original Youth Award — John Topham’s Gilligan’s Island entry.
• Most Spirited Youth Award — Lou Ann tabor’s flower power entry.
• Groovy Youth Award — Amy Hallaert and Ashley Kenehanh’s entry of peace, love and Woodstock.
• Psychedelic Youth — Colleen Cloud’s entry of welcome to the ‘60s.
• Most Enthusiastic — David Kirch’s entry of twisting to the ‘60s.
• Most Spirited Family Award — Mark and Mary Violi Family’s entry of peace, love and happiness.
• Flotilla Seal Award — Will Glover.
• Neighborhood Award — The Price Family’s entry of The Flintstones.
• Most Patriotic Award — T.L. Jackson’s tribute to heroes.
• Peace, Love and Happiness Award — Hope Huber’s entry of summer love.
• Hippie Award — Teri Johnson’s entry of the ‘60s.
• Far Out Award — Traub Family’s entry of Scooby Doo.
• Business/Commercial Award — Wendy and James Hampton’s entry of the 1960s.
• Most Original Business/Commercial Award — Perry Glaney/Dean Lantz’s Nauti Waters entry of the 1960s.
• Wooden Boat Award — A Ventor, owner unknown, first; Tom and Maria Heinrich’s 2020 Hacker Craft, second.
• Antique Boat Award — Tom Hans, 1959 Chris Craft, first; Eugene and Patsy McNichols, 25-foot Christ Craft Sportsman, second.
• Classic Boat Award — The Green Family’s 1993 Century Coronado, first; Mark Campbell, 1981 Century Coronado, second.
• On-Shore Awards
• Flotilla Seal — Bob McNary showing ‘60s patriotism.
• First Place — Alexa Ennis, the 1960s.
• Second Place — Kathy Silverman, featuring the moon landing in 1969.
• Groovy Award — Zipfel Family, The Brady Bunch.
• Most Spirited Award — The Arnold/West families theme of moonin’ and groovin’.
• Homeowners Association — Spink Condos 1960s theme.Among the prizes that were presented were gift cards from local businesses. Local businesses where gift cards were purchased included Griffith’s Wawasee Marina , Main Channel Marina, Man Cave, Huntington Street Bar and Grill, Sleepy Owl, Channel Marker, Frog and Ace Hardware.

More photos from the 2021 Flotilla can be found in this post