Go Jump In A Lake!

Once a year for the past 7 years, when the frigid waters of the Angle Lake are at their coldest, a unique breed of creature migrates to the private shores of the Manor Community Beach to engage in a strange and glorious ritual. They are called Plungers, their event is Polar Bear Plunge and it’s an Angle Lake tradition. Raising awareness and charitable donations for the Tukwila Emergency Food Bank, these unique creatures dive into the icy lake and celebrate the occasion the only way they know how—by freezing their buns off!


A Reason to be Freezin’
Please consider joining the ‘courageous’ few who’ll symbolically dive into the new year by literally diving into the frigid waters of Angle Lake for the annual Polar Bear Plunge. Original justification for this act was simply because it was a crazy, wacky thing to do. However, sensible reason to justify this act has been added in effort to support a food drive to help reduce hunger in our area. 

We are encouraging all participants and spectators to bring cash or check donations to be given to the Tukwila Pantry to assist their effort in providing meals to members in community who suffer from hunger.

When you think about it, $50 in the average family household may produce a couple meals at best but according to the Tukwila Pantry website, they have the ability of turning $50 into 500 meals! That’s an incredible use of limited resource. However, the website also reports that the Tukwila Pantry Emergency Food Bank operations serves nearly three thousand households representing some nine thousand individuals. That requires a lot of $50 contributions and that is where we all can help by offering any size of financial contribution. 100% of your donation will go to the Tukwila Pantry to serve toward these needs. Non-perishable packaged food donations will also be accepted.

A Chance to Win
To encourage participation, a raffle drawing will be held for a chance to win one of several Angle Lake Shore Club T-Shirts being offered. Simply by showing up to the event at the Manor Beach on New Year’s Day you will be entitled to one raffle ticket for a chance to win; Showing up in costume (regardless if you’re planning to plunge or not) will earn you a second ticket; bring a donation of ten dollars or a non-perishable food item and you’ll receive another raffle; and finally – taking the Plunge will earn you yet another ticket for an additional chance to win a prize! 

Angle Lake Manor Club Beach
3419 South 194th Street
January 1st, 2013

11:00 AM Gates Open, Light Refreshments Offered
11:45 AM Raffle Prize Drawings
12:00 PM The Big Plunge
01:00 PM Conclusion

A fire will be burning to warm by and hot coffee and other refreshments will be available for participants and spectators to enjoy before the plunge. A small commemorative gift will be awarded to all participants that enter the water. Special recognition will be given to each participant that achieves Polar Cub Club status be swimming to the dive platform and back!

Hints and Safety Tips:
  • Dress Up in costume over your swimsuit to add whimsy
  • Come Early. Parking is limited. Carpool or come by boat.
  • Anyone with heart problems should consult your health care provider before participating. If you don't participate, you’re still welcome to join us and watch.
  • Do Not Stay In The Water Longer Than 15 Minutes. Body heat is lost 30 times faster in the water than in air.
  • Keep Your Outer Clothing On until swim time and remove any wet clothing before getting back into dry clothes.
  • Have Fun!
A filmed overview from the early years is available for viewing at the following link: http://bit.ly/16VAELw

Last years photos are available at this link:
http://bit.ly/16VDSP8

That's A Wrap!

Another year full of fun community events, 2014 closes with the traditional visit from Santa Claus!
While most may assume a lakeside shore club is busiest during the summer months, however on Angle Lake things really get busiest around Christmastime! 

At the beginning of December, members of the Shore Club gathered at the McGarah home for our annual Members Only Christmas Party. This year we welcomed many new members and neighbors who’ve chosen to make Angle Lake their home. We also took this opportunity to award Ed and Jeannie Montry as Mr. and Mrs. Christmas in recognition for their many years of club participation and lake stewardship and our elections resulted in the retention of all existing board positions with the extension of another annual term. Special mention needs to be made in recognizing Julie Hill for her outstanding efforts in planning, organizing and executing another great gathering and a huge thank you is given to all the members who pitched in to help before, during and after the event.  And of course thank you to Jean for offering your beautiful home for us to gather in. Pictures from the Christmas Party may be viewed by clicking this LINK.

The following week, Santa made his annual trip to Angle Lake for a visit with the children in the area. After a brief chat and a quick inspection to verify the kids’ promise of having been brushing, flossing and cleaning their ears on a regular basis, Santa awarded them with a small gift bag for their effort. This event was made possible by Steve Beck’s connection to Santa, our boat captains Bruce and Lonnie Goulet and our ALSC members whose contributions cover expenses. Pictures of the Santa Cruise may be viewed by clicking this LINK. Or click on the video below to witness some of the highlights of Santa’s Visit.

While we're saying farwell to 2014, it won't be long before we're at it again! Next up is the Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day, January 1st. Specfic details will be shared right here on this blog and on our facebook page. We hope that you’ll join us! 

Until then, Merry Christmas from the ALSC Board to each of you and your loved ones.

Santa Is On His Way!

In addition to the annual journey that Ole’ Saint Nick endures every 24th of December, Santa Claus is also scheduling a special visit to the Angle Lake Community this Friday, December 12th!


As the reindeer continue to rest up for the big trip on Christmas Eve and the elves up north continue to prepare the sleigh, Santa is planing to make a special lap around Angle Lake via pontoon boat. He will be joined with a group of other festive boats decked out in holiday lights, broadcasting Christmas music and spreading cheer with all who gather at select locations along the lake shore.  
When: Friday, December 12th 
Where: Pre-Selected Docks on Angle Lake
Begin: 6:00 PM  
End: 8:00..ish… 
or when we get too cold, too wet, too tired, or our glasses run dry...

Since the need for Santa to be up north is great this time of year, the number of locations he’ll visit is limited. The route will depart from the Beck Residence (19244 39th Avenue South) at 5:45 PM and will travel counter-clockwise around the lake and will make a stop at each of the following locations:

Schedule of Stops:
6:00 PM     Marlys Patton 3771 So 194th Street (Jill 824-7058)
6:30 PM     Angle Lake Mobile Home Park (John 920-1917)
7:15 PM     Bonnie Warner 19653 Military Road So (Bonnie 824-1599)
7:45 PM     Dave Gutierrez 19003 46th Ave So (Maritza 595-1698)
8:00 PM     Steve Bell 18446 37th Ave So (Rhonda 909-9641)
NOTE: All times are approximate and regardless of rain, only strong winds will require canceling this event. Please contact Julie (355-6460) if you'd like to ride on one of the boats.
  
We encourage all who are interested visiting with Santa to gather at the above locations. Also as an added safety precaution, we are requesting that everyone remain on the beach prior to Santa’s arrival. Santa’s Elf Helpers will arrive just ahead of Santa to great guests and then permit a limited number of visitors out to the end of the dock at one time. Parents and Guardians, we’d appreciate your help in complying with this request. Santa will then sail in and have a quick visit with the kids, learn of their Christmas dreams and wishes and capture a digital photo to share via email with the parents. A full lap around the lake will take a couple hours so watch for us, waive, flash your Christmas or porch lights as a sign of welcome for our special guest and his hapless but well intentioned elf helpers. 

A super huge thank you to Julie Hill who helped bundle the gifts bags for the kids and special recognition to Jim Todd; Lonnie Goulet; and Bruce Goulet for all the effort it took to pull this event together to spread heartwarming cheer to all within our community. And Special Thanks to Steve Beck for his scheduling efforts in getting Santa Claus to visit during this peak time of year! 

The entire Angle Lake Shore Club Board wish for you and your family a Very Merry Christmas!  

I'm Five Years Old!

Do you recall what it was like to be turning five years old?  You were still very young, full of energy, gaining independence, and building confidence to take on the world!
Well let’s see how that might compare to a blog site turning five years old. That’s right; the Angle Lake Shore Club Blog reaches a new milestone in celebrating a fifth year anniversary of existence this weekend.

Five years ago on December 7th, 2009, the Angle Lake Shore Club Blog was launched with the sole purpose of being the club's primary communication vehicle for sharing timely information among residents who live on or near the shores of Angle Lake in SeaTac, WA. The objective was to create a platform where Shore Club Members could become frequent visitors to the site, actively participate by submitting relevant human interest stories of life around the lake, contribute news and photos to the Blog Team via an established dedicated email address; and by freely posting comments regarding any of the published articles. 

Although the blog hasn’t nearly achieved the level of participation the board was hopeful for, I do have confidence that the blog has become a good source to refer to when members want to catch up on what’s happening in their neighborhood. While the information posted is intentionally limited to the immediate neighborhood, being an internet publication does not limit its exposure.
Recorded Vistor Locations
Our web statistics indicate that the blog has been viewed at one time or another from every content on earth with the exception of Antarctica! Total page views since inception are numbering over 68,500 to date – with the 2011 Angle Lake Fishing Derby post generating the most views at 14,164 (go figure). The blog can also boast having a total of 67 subscribers who receive posts automatically delivered to their inbox when stories are published.

Along the way new pages have been added and have remained – Crime Reports; Annual Events; Photo Albums; and MultiMedia Slide Shows – while other published pages had served their usefulness and eventually were removed from view – Fireworks Preparations; Lost-n-Found; Classifieds; and Forum. The intent is to always keep only what is recognized as beneficial to the community. 

New tools have also been introduced to accompany our blog – Facebook, Twitter, and Nextdoor.com have been implemented as popular alternative forums for which people appear to be more comfortable participating in and it seems that they have more so come to rely on the blog to be a source for receiving information than a platform to contribute to.   

Over the past five years the communication posted through the blog has aspired to be non-political, non-religious, and unbiased but I’m sure at times may have been controversial – but who would know?  Rarely does anyone every leave a comment!  Maybe this time you will?  

Please consider leaving a comment sharing your opinion about this blogs usefulness; suggest where improvements may be made; express how it may have benefited you; or offer any other encouragement to consider carrying on for another five years!

But for now, Happy Fifth Birthday to Us!

A Few Spots Still Available!

The ALSC Members Only Christmas Party is this Saturday and if you haven’t made your reservations yet – don’t fret!  We still have a few spots left open and we’ll be accepting payment at the door. To access a copy of the ticket order form CLICK HERE.


Saturday, December 6th - 4:00 PM: Members Christmas Party 
The McGarah Residence will be the site for this year’s Members Only Christmas Party. All active members are welcome to join for an evening of socializing, munching, imbibing, singing and participating much laughter! The event will feature mouthwatering hors d’oeuvres, fully catered dinner, hosted bar, and hired entertainment – we’re also bringing back the ever entertaining ‘photo booth’ as well! The annual members meeting will be held to nominate board members, hold elections, introduce new members, recognize generous volunteers and share information about the 4th of July Fireworks Show for 2015. 


Food Drive
We’re also requesting that guests bring a non-perishable food item or two to be donated to Northwest Harvest Food Drive.  We hope to collect enough food to help feed many of the less fortunate who are hungry and in need of good nutrition.  Cash / Check donations will also be accepted.  Please consider making a generous gift.