October 2025 – Birch Lake Yacht Club

Crockpot Challenge Recap

For the 50 plus Birch Lakers that attended the Bad Patty Crock Pot Challenge September 26, wasn’t it nice? There were 15 savory and two sweet entries. Believe me, no one went home hungry! We had donations and an auction of remaining wine, beer, and pop that gave us $264 dollars for the Yacht Club.

Thanks to Karen Curtis Miller (home with a sick cat) and her crew of Deb Hall, Sandy Vitale, Vickie and Tom Rogers, and Phil Vitale, who helped plan, set-up, and run the event. Thank you to those who entered their culinary creations, and to those who brought other treats, and of course to all who stayed to clean up. It was a welcome event as we head into fall and winter.

Congratulations to our 2025 Crock Pot Challenge winners:

Savory
1st Place – Ronnie Eshleman
2nd Place – Vickie Rogers

Sweet
1st Place – Terry Carroll
2nd Place – Donna Hogoboom

The week after the Crock Pot Challenge, Sandy Vitale, Sue Williams, Sue Davis,and Vickie Rogers cleaned and organized the yacht club. Ladies, we appreciate your time and hard work!

Halloween Plans

The Birch Lake kids are all looking forward to celebrating Halloween at the lake again! Amber Grundy and Lori Snider are coordinating the annual Halloween gathering. We’re planning for the kids to trick-or-treat on Saturday, November 1st. While Halloween is on Friday this year, it’s easier for many of the families with young kids to get to the lake and plan an event on Saturday!! More info will be available soon, and we’ll be collecting a list of those who will be home to make a trick-or-treat map again.

Commodore’s Comments

Bad Patty would have been proud of her namesake Bad Patty Crockpot Challenge, that capped off our 2025 social calendar last Friday. Please see the note above for a recap of the event!

Preparations for the BLYC 2026 season are going strong. Event Chair Sue Davis has added Donna and Dave Hogoboom to her team for Card and Game Night. Their plan is to change it from twice a summer to five times a summer, i.e., monthly from May through September, to add continuity.

Sue Davis also reached out to parents’ of past Kayak Race participants to gauge interest for 2026. If you or someone you know might like to race kayaks, please let Sue know.

Tim Cole contacted the State of Michigan and learned that no license is necessary for a poker run. Tim will run a survey in the Birch Barker to gauge interest among residents. If you would like to have a great time at a poker run, while supporting Birch Lake fireworks, please let Tim know.

Tim also learned that a 501(c)(7) corporation like the BLYC can be licensed for bingo. We will make sure to obtain that license for the bingo night planned for 2026, to benefit updates to our clubhouse.

Vice Commodore Ron Niezgodski got great news recently from an anonymous group of Birch Lakers who have volunteered to provide the labor to repair the deck at the clubhouse.

Thank you all!

~Commodore Steve

Fleet Captain’s Corner

While the sailing season started slowly with not the best winds for sailing, the wind improved immensely later in the season. All in all, it turned into a great season with the MCs and Sunfish ending up sailing 26 and 23 races respectively. Not too shabby at all.

We also had three sailors – Tom Eslinger, Jeff Walls, and Connor Caplis – join or rejoin the fleet this year. Welcome to the fleet. The final season standings for the MCs were Scott Troeger 1^st, Pat Welch 2^nd, and Phil Vitale 3^rd. For the Sunfish, it was Rick Russwurm 1^st, Stu Spratt 2^nd, and Bob Niezgodski 3^rd.

As the 2025 sailing season has concluded here at Birch Lake, I want to take a minute and thank everyone who helped make sailing happen this year. It truly takes a team. First, a big thank you to my dad and the new Vice Commodore, Ron Niezgodski, for captaining the Committee Boat. Second, thank you to Karen Brovold, Stacia Andriano, Steve Plaia, Bill Butler, and Kevin Goodin for serving on the committee boat. Third, thank you to John Ball, Tom Lacy, and Vic Jones for doing a fantastic job of setting the marks. Fourth, I would like to thank Tim and Chris Cole, Buzz Rasmussen, and Rick Doolittle for their assistance in serving as the safety boats. Fifth, thank you to Buzz Rasmussen, Bob King, Karen Brovold, and anyone else who took pictures for the Barker articles. Sixth, a very big thank you to Megan and Tom Caplis for hosting a great Kidz Regatta with around 23 kids in attendance.

Finally, at the sailing awards luncheon and the last BLYC meeting, there was some discussion on ideas to improve and grow sailing here at Birch Lake. Over the winter, I plan to look at how to implement some of these ideas. In my book, ideas, while not always implementable, are always welcome. If you have any ideas of your own to grow and improve sailing, please let me know.

~ F.C. Bob

Cass County Parks Harvest Fest

Breathe deeply, and you can almost imagine the cool, crisp autumn days that are soon to be upon us; what better way to enjoy those vibrant colors of nature than spending an afternoon with us at Dr. Lawless International Dark Sky Park during our Harvest Fest/Trunk-n-Treat celebration! Bring your family and meet your friends to enjoy this very special time.

The Trunk-n-Treat portion of the event will be held only from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., though Harvest Fest will run from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Special admission to the celebration this year will be 1 canned good per person (which will be donated to a local food pantry), pet supplies (dog food, cat food, kitty litter, etc. that will be donated to the Cass County Animal Shelter) or $1.00 per person (cash only).

Public Service Announcements

West Nile Virus Alert

The Van Buren/Cass District Health Department (VBCDHD) has been notified by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) that a great blue heron found in Cass County has tested positive for West Nile virus. Click here for more information from the Health Department.

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BLYC Directory

Corrections and updates to the new directory? Send any updates to birchbarker1@gmail.com and we’ll publish them here for folks to update their directories.