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The Amphicar Owners Club has been a tradition at Lake Fest for 25 years. This year they also raised money for local nonprofits.
CELINA - The International Amphicar Owners Club not only celebrated their 25th anniversary of being part and parcel of the Celina Lake Festival in 2025, they also came through for the community in a big way.
Amphicar drivers offered public rides on Grand Lake for a fee of a mere $5 at this year's festival July 24-26, raising $6,500 that was recently awarded to seven local nonprofit organizations.
Amphicar - the only civilian amphibious passenger automobile ever to be mass-produced - was manufactured in West Germany from 1961 to 1968. Only 3,878 Amphicars were made, and fewer than 600 are still lake-worthy today, according to the festival commitee.
The one-of-a-kind vehicles were a ubiquitous sight in the area during Celina Lake Festival and made their way into Grand Lake during the annual splash-in on July 25.
"Since it was their 25th year, they kind of wanted to do something special for the community, and so we came up with this," festival treasurer Erin Moeller said about the public rides.
Festival organizers were amazed at the amount of money raised through the endeavor.
"We were blown away because we were just going to pick one (nonprofit recipient)," she said. "And then when we found out how much, we were like, 'We can bless so many people.'"
Receiving proceeds from the public Amphicar rides were the Mercer County Cancer Association, the Lake Improvement Association, C.A.L.L. Ministries Food Pantry, Hand Up Village, M.A.V. Youth Mentoring and Mercer County Aktion Club.
"Thank you for thinking about us. I appreciate it," said Lord's Abounding Grace Church pastor Rick Brosher upon being handed a giant check for $500 to help support Hand Up Village. "You don't know how much it means during the summer months, as it is our slow time. We get most of our donations in the winter time and late in the year. Anything that we get in the summer is wonderful."
Hand Up Village is a temporary community designed to help county residents get their lives on track, officials involved in the faith-based mission have said. Residents are required to hold down a job, attend a church of their choice and save up money to help secure housing once they leave.
Brosher credits the faith component for tenants' financial, physical, mental and emotional success.
Cancer Association of Mercer County executive director Valerie Heitkamp accepted a check for $2,000 on behalf of her organization.
"The Cancer Association, we're going to give the largest (amount to)," Moeller noted. "We've had so many close people (with cancer) … at one time, so we thought that was a good way to honor them."
The Lake Improvement Association, which is dedicated to fostering fellowship and cooperation among farmers, landing owners and park operators to advance the general improvement of the lake, was happy to accept its check for $1,000.
"We're honored the LIA was chosen as one of the recipients. This donation will help fund the West Bank Playground," the organization said in a statement.
Mercer County Aktion Club and M.A.V. Youth Mentoring both received $500. C.A.L.L. Ministries Food Pantry and Giving Thanks each received $1,0000 donations.
At a recent city council meeting, Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel applauded the festival commitee for executing another excellent event and for facilitating the Amphicar public rides.
"I think the commitee put together something that our community really loved," he said. "I do want to give a shoutout. So often volunteers in our community don't get the thanks they deserve."
