Anything Floats – Boiling Springs 4th of July

“Anything Floats”
Children’s Lake
Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania

“Anything Floats” is a an event at which teams create their own (hopefully lakeworthy) vessels and compete in a series of races around Children’s Lake in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania.

Children’s Lake is a man-made lake fed by the town’s namesake springs. It is the center of many activities in Boiling Springs and I just adore it. I lived in Boiling Springs for a short time after college and you can generally find people walking, fishing, or feeding the ducks and swans all year long. Santa arrives each year by canoe … and I have even attended a wedding there. It’s also a popular stop on the Appalachian Trail.

The lake typically ranges in depth from 4 – 6 feet and holds an average temperature 52° most of the year. I say typically, because recent deterioration of the lake has lowered the water level of a bit. Read about efforts to save the lake.

Some participants compete in individual inner tube races to kick things off. Then the handcrafted boats compete in a series of heats that progressively add 2 members with each heat. A few boats have a smaller capacity; but others progress to 4, 6, 8, and 10 person crews throughout the races. While some of the boats start off large enough to handle 10 people, others have some pretty creative ways of attaching modular additions as they move on to the next crew size. I was expecting a lot more mishaps; but most were pretty well-designed!

I made the mistake of relying on my phone instead of bringing my camera … but check out the video and photo gallery below.

This was one of the entries with a “modular” system going on. They had some minor problems with their last addition and had to do some emergency bailing … but they made it through!

If you follow me on social media – you knew there were Vikings – because I “squeed” quite loudly on the Internet

This “boat” … made with exercise balls made it through several heats; but ultimately capsized. They were troopers, though, they even tried to race with it upside down!