The bash will be held on Aug. 10 and 11 at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park.

“There is all kinds of areas we need volunteers for,” said Linda Donner, who helps organize the event. “For some reason we haven’t had a lot of people volunteer yet this year.”

Donner said each year more than 100 volunteers help out.

“Right now we have about 10 volunteers,” she said. “Usually by now we have a lot of volunteers lined up.”

On Friday night, the bash will kick off with a concert featuring Pop Rocks. The band will take the stage at 8 p.m. Cost is $10 for adults. Children 12 and under will be admitted for free.

“They have been very popular,” Donner said of Pop Rocks. “They played last year. People wanted them to play again. They don’t play in this area very much. They are a show band. In addition to doing a lot of pop music, they change costumes between songs and have a good time with it.”

She said fireworks would be mixed throughout their performance.

Friday night will also feature the Shimkat Sprint Cup Challenge, which is a 200-meter race, Donner said.

“It’s four teams racing head to head and the team that wins gets a trophy,” she said. “Then we go right into the concert after that.”

Concessions will be available.

“That’s one of the things we need a lot of volunteers for because we do have concessions,” Donner said. “We have children’s games, people taking tickets. Those are places we could really use volunteers is helping with some of those things Friday night and Saturday we race all day.”

A silent auction that will benefit local cancer patients will be held Friday and Saturday.

“A lot of festivals do it for a cause,” Donner said. “We started a breast cancer team about 15 years ago in Fort Dodge and the breast cancer team wanted to, in honor of their team getting started, give something back to the community.”

She said the group decided to donate 100 percent of the funds from the silent auction to UnityPoint — Trinity Regional Medical Center to help for patient services not covered by insurance.

“The money goes to our local cancer center to help local people for some of those things that aren’t covered,” she said.

Donner said she enjoys seeing everyone have a good time at the event.

“I like the youth teams,” she said. “It’s fun to see the looks of the faces of those kids get their first medal. Learning how to race and learning about the sport of paddling.”

One of her favorite memories involves her granddaughter.

“I have grandchildren that paddle now and a year ago when I handed my granddaughter her first gold medal that was one of the most thrilling moments of the whole weekend,” Donner recalled. “It was exciting. I think also watching all the teams have a good time. It’s a good way to get exercise and meet other people.”

To volunteer, contact Linda Donner by email, Linda.Donner@frontiernet.net, by phone at 515-571-9642 or Barbara Michaels by email, Bjmichaels@frontiernet.net, or by phone at 515-571-0174.

Volunteers needed in the following areas:

Friday night

Parking: 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Front gate: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Concessions: 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Beer tickets: 5:30 to 10 p.m.

Children’s Games: 5:30 until dark

Saturday

Parking: 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Front gate: 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Concessions: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Children’s games: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Timer: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (using a stop watch to time races)

Starting line: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (helping the starter)

Beach: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (helping load boats)

Silent auction: 8:30 to noon

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