Summer at Okoboji

I have lived here in the Iowa Great Lakes most of my 85 years and when people ask me what changes I have observed I always mention the “wall-to-wall hoists along our shore lines. But I suppose we get used to them along with the ugly power poles and lines strung all over the place. Our eyes don’t even see them, nor do they? Sometimes we solve one problem only to create another but the boats get larger and so do the hoists. Most people did not own a power boat until about the 1970s. I recall that prior to World War II some of us who lived in the area were employed either driving speedboats or selling tickets. People who did not have access to the lake took “speedboat” rides or journeyed around Lake West Okoboji on the Queen. For several summers Hank Nelson employed me to sell speedboat tickets at the State Pier in Arnolds Park. Hank had three speedboats and operated on the left dock jetting out from the pier. Frank Spotts operated from the right dock and also had a ticket booth. Hank gave me a “Course 101” on selling speedboat tickets (All of three minutes), strapped a money changer around my waist, handed me a roll of tickets and said, “Go out and sell.”
I may have been a bit bashful when I first started by slowly I caught on how to sell speedboat tickets. Hank must have likes what I did as I worked for him for two summers. I soon learned that there were three classes of people:
1. Those who wouldn’t pay a dime for a solid gold brick and “no sale.”
2. Those who took little effort on my part to buy a speedboat ticket.
3. The great “middle” group that need some salesmanship or reason for them to buy a speedboat ticket.
It was a great experience and even to this day I reflect on the huge crowds that came to the lakes on weekends in the summer months. Many times the road through the Amusement Park was closed to vehicle traffic and the streets would be crowded with pedestrians. The State Pier would be packed with spectators fence to fence because they were nearer or almost on the lake.
In those days most of the men wore Panama hats, dark trousers, white shirts and neckties. The ladies wore long dresses, always a hat and sometimes gloves. In those days people didn’t have much money, so spent a great deal of time just “looking” and watching. Popcorn was five cents and most of the rides in the Park were ten cents. A great hamburger with the “works” at Rick’s (Next to the Majestic Roller Skating Rink) was ten cents. It was great fun to just watch the people. The noise at the Park was a mixture of many things. The roller-coasters climbing to the “Point of No Return” and then plunging down and around and up and down the tracks, the Bingo stand calling numbers-B-14, etc., the snap and crack of the rifles in the shooting galleries, music from the merry-go-round, the clang of the bell when some fellow using the heavy maul pushed the weight high enough to ring the it, distant music from the Roof Garden, the Queen’s whistle and the constant babble of the pedestrians. It was always exciting at the Park in the summer. There was always something to watch like the Dodgen’s, the bowling alley, knock the bottles down, Skitball and skaters at both rinks. We were never ready to go home.
The contrast was our home town. Summer was always too short but the evenings were lazy and great. The atmosphere was really laid back. The neighborhood kids would gather at one of our houses and we would play “kick the can” or “hide and seek.” The adults would sit on their porches and visit, knit or sew while the kids were in sight. Nobody played loud music on their radio or records. Occasionally a vehicle would drive by and stir up the dust. The street roads were all gravel and maintained by the town and by August were dusty.
Saturday night was looked forward to by all. It was the night most of the farmers and their families came to town. The ladies brought their eggs to the grocery stores and exchanged for groceries. The kids might go to the movie or just roam the streets. On a calm wonderful Saturday night the sidewalks would be overflowing with pedestrians and cars were parked parallel next to the sidewalks. Many town people parked their car early so they could sit in the seats and watch the people. It was a chore to walk those two blocks and not bump into somebody. The poolhall was doing a good business as were the clothing and hardware stores. The restaurants had people in the booths drinking Coca-Cola and ordering hamburgers. For many years there was a popcorn wagon on one of the corners in the middle of town... The small towns were alive and strong but alas times and people change and Saturday nights aren’t what they used to be.
In those days we waited for summer and the Park to provide us with great many opportunities for recreation. People came from all over and we had only to drive four miles north. What a deal!