Winter seems to finally have arrived in Northern Iowa. After a very mild start, snow is starting to accumulate and the January picnics are now on hold.
We have been using our off season time to focus on improvements that we are planning for. the campground. The first push will be to finish the new lots that we started last fall. As all six of them are now leased, we will have them completed by May 1st so we hope the weather cooperates. We also have piled up more gravel than we could ever use. We will be spreading it over the campground roads and making a new road around the sites that we just added.
The next area that will have a lot of work done will be the south side of the second finger. We will be putting rock along the shoreline and putting fill to level them off. We will also add pads (either concrete or pavers) and remove some gravel and replace it with either sod or grass seed. We are also going to add a pergola behind the office, add a basketball court near the playground and put in a parking lot south of the new lots.
We are also hoping to have more people take garden plots this year. We feel last year was a success and we really enjoyed it. This year we are much more organized and are confident that it will really take off. We were pleased to give away approximately 75 dozen ears of sweet corn and over 50 pumpkins to our campers. Thanks again to Keith and JoAnne Helland for purchasing the seed and providing a tiller. The plan this year is to separate the area into 3 sections- The north one will be used exclusively for tomatoes and will be subdivided into individual lots that are 10' x 20' with walkways in between the plots. The south section will also be 10' x 20' lots with walkways between them and the middle section will be used for pumpkins and squash. We also hope to have a compost area for recycling organic material.
There is water and garden tools available so you don't need to bring anything. You can share your garden with a friend. If we need more plots, there is plenty of land available so we will make more plots if necessary. Even if you have never had a garden before, there are some very experienced gardeners that are quite helpful that would love to give you some pointers. We will even have extra seed to give away Last year, we strung an electric fence around the garden as we had concerns about the raccoons and deer. However, we never had to electrify it as we didn't have a problem at all. The only request that we have are that you keep the weeds at bay and that you respect other peoples plots. Please let us know if you are interested in a plot this year.
We will also have sweet corn which will be planted south of the new parking lot up to the road that goes to Loran's acreage and the western border will be the same as the new road that will go around the new lots. The people with gardens will have first dibs on the harvest but there should still be a lot left over for the rest of the campers that don't have gardens. We should also have excess pumpkins again this year to give to the campers.
We will be spending some time this month scheduling the entertainment. We thought that karaoke went over well last year and will do it again this year. We are also researching local talent as we would like to have have a couple of concerts and possibly a comedy show. As always, we welcome any suggestions.
We are also considering a fishing contest. As many of you know, we have an abundance of striped bass and we would like to reduce the population. If there are enough volunteers, we could have a fish fry with the harvest. An added bonus is that it would be a great time to spend with kids. Please feel free to weigh in on this and let us know if you would be interested.
Another idea that is being considered is having an additional volleyball tournament. It would be held over Memorial Day weekend and be similar to the annual Labor Day tournament. More on that to follow.
Those of you that have a Facebook account may be interested in joining the group "Friends of Three Fingers". There are currently over 40 members and it is a handy way of staying in touch and keeping up with your friends from the campground. To be added to the group, all you have to do is request to be friends with either of us and we will get your name added.
As of this writing, we are planning on opening around April 1 which is only about 2 months from now. Until then, stay well and let us know if you have any suggestions for improving your camping experience.
Thanks again for your business!
