The annual Lake Leelanau Poker Float fundraiser is set to be held once again on Sunday, July 21, with this year’s theme being “Countries of the Olympics.” This will be the second year the event takes to the water to help raise funds and awareness about controlling the invasive Eurasian Watermilfoil in Lake Leelanau. All funds raised will go towards the Friends of Lake Leelanau, a local nonprofit dedicated to protecting and enhancing the quality and beauty of the lake, including financing the prevention, monitoring, and control of invasive species.
“This lake really sustains all of the businesses and all the home owners and we don’t want that milfoil in this lake,” said Paula Todd, Lake Leelanau Poker Float creator and committee member. “The Poker Float itself is an independent organization. This is year two, so this is all new to all of us. The idea behind it is to organize a fun community family-friendly event that will raise funds for a local organization… We really are trying to include as much of the community as we can.”
Last year, the event theme was centered on the idea of “my hometown,” and people who participated as dock hosts along the poker float route made the effort to decorate their stops based on where they’re from. This time around, people can expect docks to have decorations up based on countries participating in the summer Olympics. Dock hosts will also be competing for “best dock” designation, with participants voting on their favorite stops while attempting to fill out their scorecards. The best dock winner gets to keep the prize, an antique floating device, at their dock until the next poker float event.
“The dock hosts last year went above and beyond, they really did a phenomenal job doing their theme and decorating… The group sold 251 cards for a brand new event that nobody knew anything about, and we really just did it by word of mouth and with signage around town,” Todd said. “They (dock hosts) dress up, they dance, and they decorate the dock — it’s big fun and they play music that goes with the theme.”
Only human powered watercraft/ personal flotation devices are allowed to be used such as inflatables, paddleboards, kayaks, canoes, row boats, water bikes or pedal boats during the event. People start anytime after 4 p.m. from any of the docks (Juniper Trail, Terrace Court, or Nedow’s Bay), and prizes are awarded based on poker hand ranking. Hand rankings will be determined by the highest ranked 5-card hand contained among the participant’s cards collected by visiting docks. The goal is to visit at least five docks to make a complete hand though, and to have fun and be safe while filling out a scorecard for yourself or for family and friends.
At 6 p.m., there will be an after party for continued fun where the best dock host and poker float winners will be announced. The lucky winners will take home trophies and prize baskets filled with local items donated by small business owners in the county.
“You have a better chance of getting a better hand the more docks that you can visit in the two hours,” she said. “You’re trying to assemble a poker hand, and people can paddle up to docks where there are dealers, then you would hand that dealer your scorecard… there’s no skill, it’s just going to the dock and they shuffle and give you a card, but the more docks you visit, the better chance you have at actually getting a flush.”
Adult scorecards are $40 and $15 for kids 17 and under. Scorecard tickets are limited to 300 participants, however, if there are still cards available by the day of the event, people can purchase them from committee members stationed at Nedow’s Bay. For more information or to register as a poker float participant online, people can go to https://www.llpokerfloat.com.
