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Mud ’n’ stuff

Log rollin’, mud volleyball, parade are fan faves at Lehigh River Days

By HANS MADSEN 3 min read

LEHIGH -- While the mud volleyball pit at the annual Lehigh River Days celebration got an upgrade this year with a rubber liner, the log rolling pit got a few visitors that were not planning on participating -- tiny frogs and a pair of juvenile snakes.

Brittany Halbur, of Lehigh, used a net to get the snake out of the pit.

They're not her favorite critters.

"This was not on my radar," Halbur said. "I was supposed to do the log roll. Now I'm not going to."

The pit provided Creo Davis, 12, of Dayton, with another useful commodity -- mud to style his hair.

"It works pretty good," Davis said. "It gets your hair dirty; it's kind of stinky."

Breann Price, of Lehigh, was playing volleyball in the mud with her KG Roofing teammates. She was pretty happy with the liner.

"It helps with the rocks and sticks." Price said. "It is kind of slick though."

It's not just the liner. Price explained that after the pit was dug, it was lined with six inches of sand under the liner. Then the "mud" was added. It was donated from a site an hour away. It wasn't just any dirt either. It was the remains of samples; each one had been sifted. No rocks here.

"It was nice to play in clean mud," she said.

Her teammate, Tara Smith, of Lehigh, said her game was a little rusty.

"I failed miserably," Smith joked.

She enjoyed the well-prepared pit.

"It was a little slippery but not as rocky," she said. "I used to get cut up a lot more. No injuries this year."

Leah Harris, 14, of Fort Dodge, is prior Log Rolling champion. She said she won her age division her first year. Had a third place showing the next year and didn't place last year.

It was the log.

"It was waterlogged," Harris said. "It just sunk."

The key to winning?

"Balance," she said. "That's about it."

Tyler Lane, of Fort Dodge, was watching his son, Holt Lane, 6, operate a small backhoe.

Yes.

A real backhoe.

It was Holt's first time.

"I'll let him go," Tyler Lane said. "He'll figure it out. They're kids. They play video games."

Holt got the hang of it pretty quick, taking his first scoop of soil. Does this mean he might be a future equipment operator.

"I have three boys," Tyler Lane said. "I think this will be the one that will do it."

Iowa Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, was on hand Saturday morning to take part in the parade. She was among the first to arrive.

"I got here about 9:15 to get the lay of the land," Meyer said.

She arrived ready.

"We throw candy and notepads," she said. "We get those ready the night before."

She doesn't ride.

"I always walk," she said. "People know you're there."

Preparing for the parade means a nice shine and no dust for Lehigh Fire Chief Aaron Morriss.

"We wash the trucks and the side by side," Morriss said. "I think it's very good to show everybody what we have. It puts a face on the fire department."

Of course, no parade through downtown Lehigh is complete without Ace, a potbellied pig that makes his home downtown.

One of Ace's humans is Charlee Popp, 7.

"He likes the parade," she said.

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