Inaugural marina crawl deemed a success | News

This year, 118 participants turned out for the inaugural Lake Barkley Chamber of Commerce Christmas in July event. The day on the lake encouraged residents and tourists alike to enjoy both the beautiful scenery and local businesses that the area has to offer.

Participants came from Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Florida and California. Boats were decorated with red and green, and many even donned Santa hats for the day.

“It was an amazing feeling to watch the idea brought to us by Danielle Lee, owner of Holiday Hills Resort, come to life,” said Deb Domke, executive director of the Lake Barkley Chamber of Commerce, “bringing people from multiple states resulting in a true celebration of our beautiful Lake Barkley and our area businesses.”

Holiday Hills Resort was one of the many businesses to sponsor the event along with Lake Barkley Tourism Commission, Kuttawa Tourism Commission, ReMax Lake Barkley Real Estate Services, Rebecca Pagan, Broker/Owner, CFSB- Community Financial Services Bank, Eddy Creek Marina, Town’s Mercantile, The Joint BBQ, Wings & More, Payroll Vault, Herald Ledger, AirMed Care and WPKY 103.3.

Since many of these businesses don’t have lakefront locations, several marinas partnered to provide stops along the way. Participating marinas included Green Turtle Bay, Buzzard Rock Resort & Marina, Kuttawa Harbor Marina, Eddy Creek Marina, Holiday Hills Resort and Prizer Point Marina & Resort.

And, of course, there were prizes up for grabs. The event saw nearly $11,000 in receipts turned in for the Santa’s Sensational Prize Pack from 69 participants, who took home $1,000-plus in prizes. Prizes were donated by Venture River Water Park, Holiday Hills Resort, Green Turtle Bay Marina & Resort, Buzzard Rock Resort & Marina, Hu-B’s at Kuttawa Harbor Marina, Eddy Creek Marina Resort, Prizer Point Marina & Resort, The Joint BBQ, Wings & More, Payroll Vault, Blue Collar Grill and WPKY.

The Santa’s Sleigh Award Winner was Donna Ebelhar from Owensboro. The rest of the winners are listed below:

$500 cash winners

• Melody Hayden — Paducah

• Herb Redden—Evansville, Indiana

• Derek Fritschle — Olney, Illinois

Santa’s Sensational Prize Sack Winners

• Anthony May — Providence

• Rickey Griffey — Metropolis, Illinois

• Gina Rhoi — Radcliff

• dr Garah Wright—Henderson

• Kathy Higginbotham — South Lake Tahoe, California

• Debbie Stone — Robards

• Sheila Russell—Norris City, Illinois

• Stephen Harvey—White Plains

• Shannon Gibbs—Henderson

• Timothy Grove — Olney, Illinois

• Lauren Ball—Madisonville

• Dijuana Vineyard — Shawneetown, Illinois

• Amy Russell—Norris City, Illinois

• Melody Hayden — Paducah

• Shawn Taylor — Olney, Illinois

• Jennifer Talley—Henderson

• Seth Moore—Madisonville

• Ashley Boitnott — Nashville, Tennessee

• Judd Tyson—Madisonville