| PARSIPPANY --
The Lake
Parsippany Property Owners Association kicked off the
beginning of the lake's summer season Saturday with
plenty of fun in the sand and sun. At least 500 people were
expected to attend the annual Lake Parsippany Open
House, held at the lake's Drewes Beach, which was free
and open to the general public.
The event featured dragon boat races and kiddie rides, swimming,
face painting, music and food donated by ShopRite and IHOP of
Parsippany. It was also a chance for families to join the
lake at a reduced rate.
The open house, always held the first Saturday in June, has been
going on as long as 71-year-old Rose Dury, a 25-year Lake
Parsippany resident, can remember.
The LPPOA's open house is a way to let neighbors and the rest of
the community know about the lake, which Dury, a LPPOA
board member, said is available to everyone regardless of place
of residence.
"You don't have to live here to play here, but you do have to
join," Dury said.
Dury said she enjoys seeing everyone she hasn't seen over the
winter months at the open house. "It's our community. It's our
home," she said.
Every year at the open house there is a cancer survivor
carnation ceremony by the Save Our Sisters cancer survivors
dragon boat team, which practices at the lake.
Carnations are thrown into the lake in memory of those
who have died of breast cancer, but this year's ceremony hit
closer to home for some lake residents, Dury said.
This past April, Lake Parsippany resident and
member Karla Jacobus succumbed to cancer, Dury said.
Jacobus rowed with the dragon boat team on Survivor Day last
year, Dury said. This year, Jacobus' memory was represented by
pink carnations thrown into the lake.
A Lake Parsippany resident of 34 years and former
lake manager, Pat Seib has attended the open house for as
long as she's lived in town.
"I've worked them, I've come to them. . . . This is fantastic,"
Seib said. "This brings all the neighbors together (and) lets
everybody see what the lake is about and all the
activities that we have to offer."
There are several other events throughout the rest of the
season, including fishing derbies and an annual lake
campout, Dury said.
Though Kathi Masters doesn't live on the lake side of
town, she is a Lake Parsippany Realtor.
The nice thing about the area, she said, is that it's a
community.
"When you're buying in Lake Parsippany, you're
buying memories," she said.
Vanessa Vera can be reached at (973)
428-6574 or
vvera@gannett.com. |
