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Grand Lake Recreation Club members aboard the Log Dog pull in a log from Grand Lake.
CELINA - An organization founded more than a half a century ago to promote snowmobiling has since evolved and expanded its purview to advocate for myriad forms of recreation and safety on Grand Lake.
President Brad Fisher introduced himself and gave an overview of the Grand Lake Recreation Club at the Lake Improvement Association's monthly meeting May 2.
"I was fortunate enough to grow up in Southmoor Shores with some of the people that are here today. (I) lived in there since '81, live off the lake now, but very involved in the lake," Fisher said. "It's been a great time being involved in this lake through all the ups and downs and seeing what the local people can do when we go through bad times."
Back when there was lots of snow and ice, a group of snowmobile enthusiasts banded together in 1972 as the Grand Lake Snow Dreamers. In addition to promoting snowmobiling, the dreamers coordinated with other winter sports devotees, and worked alongside law enforcement in times of emergency.
"In the blizzard, snow dreamers were called upon to help everybody in a time of need, because there was a lot of snow," Fisher said. "So they ran around, delivered food to people, supplies to people that couldn't get out of their houses."
However, by the early '90s, the annual amount of snow began to diminish locally, greatly curtailing the snowmobiling season. Membership declined from a peak of 175 families at one point to a mere 30 families in 2006.
Leadership rebranded the organization as the Grand Lake Recreation Club and enlarged its fields of interest.
"We wanted to bring everybody back together with all the great things you can do around this lake," he said. "As far as snowmobiling, boating, four-wheeling, kayaking, you name it, we want to bring it all together. So now we're back up to roughly 180 families, and we have 20 businesses that support us every year also. So it's been a steady climb."
Trevor Mobley, 26, Coldwater, died in a July 6, 2020, jet ski accident on the lake.
"We got a call from (the Mobley family) to help figure out what we could do to make sure … this doesn't happen to another family," Fisher said. "They said, 'How can we light up this lake?' So we worked with them, got some ideas, worked with the state, got approval to put some extra safety lights out."
During boating season, there are now 26 illuminated buoys and 45 blinking safety lights on Grand Lake. The lights are 7-10 feet tall, spaced 500 feet apart and are solar-powered. They come on at dusk and stay on until dawn, flashing every second.
"Hopefully if you're out at night, you know where you're going and can get there safely," Fisher said.
The club also is in possession of illuminated balls used to form perimeters on the lake.
"If you see a big red ball out there, that means they're going to be putting something there like a barge or fireworks. So stay out of there," he said.
The Trevor Mobley Foundation initially donated $45,000 to set the safety light project in motion.
"Over the last five years, they've brought over $130,000 to us through their foundation. So thank you everyone that has supported that foundation, which is allowing us to do all the stuff to the lake," Fisher said.
Those donations are also used to support the Celina, Montezuma and St. Marys Township fire departments with rescue equipment.
Grand Lake Recreation Club members aboard the Log Dog maintain buoys in Grand Lake.
The club has taken on the responsibility of helping the Ohio Department of Natural Resources install the illuminated buoys in the lake each year. Members also clean the buoys.
"Last month, we met in the shop, cleaned them all up, tested all the lights, relabeled anything that was messed up," Fisher said. "In a couple weeks, Dave Faler (Grand Lake St. Marys State Park manager) and his crew, we will send some of our people out with our logging boat to help put them in."
The club has also put out safety buckets, which Fisher calls a low-cost safety solution.
"You''ll see these also on the rock piers in between some of the lights. So if the lights aren't working, … they're reflective and hopefully at night, you're going slow enough that you'll see reflection off of them from the moon, or some people will carry a little light, and they'll shine out to see where everything's at."
The Grand Lake Recreation Club endeavors to remove logs and other dangerous debris from the lake.
The club also endeavors to remove logs and other dangerous debris from the lake and beaches.
"Think of all the fishermen or even us boaters going across the water; sometimes people are going across the water at 70-80 mph now," Fisher said. "You hit that 40-foot log, it's going to do bad things. So when you see these, please let us know. We try to get out and do these, because the state's busy dredging and doing other things to help make this lake better."
The club has a boat called the Log Dog.
"We bought this boat for 1,200 bucks, (and) said we're going to do something to help clean up the lake," Fisher said. "We're not taking out these nice pontoons and destroying them. We need to get in places that people don't want to take their boats in because you can put holes in the bottom."
The Log Dog is equipped with a mounted electric winch and grapple to clutch logs and other materials from the lake, channels and beaches.
"We pick it up, we pull it up a little bit, we've got chainsaws, and we cut it up enough to get it on the front of the boat," Fisher said of logs targeted for removal.
The Log Dog is equipped with an electric winch and grapple to haul in logs and other materials.
Club members also make their way to the beaches to clear away logs, debris and trash. They recently hit up Prairie Creek Beach, removing an 82-foot-long fallen tree.
"We decided last weekend we were going to get this thing caught up," Fisher said. "We had five chainsaws running, pry bars, a wench on the front of the boat, and we cut this all up and got it off of the beach. So now if you go to Prairie Creek, we should be able to fit another six to eight boats on that beach this summer."
The aim is to make the beaches suitable for everyone.
"If you don't want to get in the water, that's fine. Pull your boat up there, take the kids, your grandkids," he said. "If you find problems out there, find that stuff needs cleaned up, let us know, and we'll be back to help out with it."
The club also took part in a project to erect an oil derrick replica in Grand Lake. The derrick spans 4-feet-by-10-feet and weighs 180 pounds. The Grand Lake Recreation Club partnered with the LIA, the state park and various companies including Con-Ag, Shinn Bros. and VTF Excavation to haul 280 tons of rip rap to the site west of Anderson Road near the Mercer County Sportsman's Club.
After the rip rap was in place and concrete poured, the replica - equipped with a solar-powered safety light - was secured to the top.
The club also partnered with the LIA to build a shelter house and playground area at the West Bank fishing dock. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facility is planned for May 22.
LIA trustee and Mercer County Commissioner Brian Miller called Fisher "a great friend of the lake."
"A guy that a lot of times is behind the scenes," Miller said of Fisher. "You have no clue what he's doing, but this guy, seven days a week is committed to Grand Lake St. Marys and making it a better place."
