Rainfall leads to road closures

Hello everyone,

With the first day of fall almost here, our calendars are filling up. Lanark will be kicking off this season with clean beach accesses thanks to the eight volunteers who were on the beach early Saturday morning. Great news! The beach and water access were cleaner this year and there was less trash and litter. The coastal cleanup is an annual event; watch for next year's announcement and join the crew.

The Lanark Village Boat Club pancake breakfast was, as always, great and well attended. We were delighted to have Sheriff AJ Smith and his beautiful wife Helen join us for breakfast.

Because of so much rain, parts of the Lanark area have been flooded. Off of Oak Street, several roads, including one in Kentucky, have been closed due to flooding. The flooding is so bad that some residents have to use boats to get home. Residents use commercial pumps to pump out thousands of gallons of rainwater. This area has flooded twice in the last few years.

It is my understanding that behind this flood plain, on elevated property, there is a small lake or pond owned by the St. Joe Company. This source of water overflows and runs into these residential areas. Commissioner Cheryl Sanders is working with all appropriate government and St. Joe Company engineers on a solution to prevent this unfortunate occurrence.

Sanders is also helping Lanark with drainage issues in the village, which are causing severe flooding in Gene Sewell Park, a county park.

I'm going to get ahead of myself a little since there will be so much going on in October. The weekly events will remain the same. Monthly events include the Lanark Village Association, which begins its membership meetings the first Monday of every month at 6:30 p.m. in Chillas Hall; and the Lanark Village Golf Club, which begins its membership meetings the second Thursday of every month at 5:00 p.m. ET in the Lanark Village Boat Club building.

The American Legion Post 82 in Lanark is hosting an Oktoberfest on Saturday, October 19th. Exact time to be announced. There will be a “Scaryaoke” Halloween party on Saturday, October 26th. The Lanark Village Golf Club and the Village Idiot Group are sponsoring a “Trunk or Treat” for the kids at 11am. The golf club is hosting a Halloween golf cart parade at 4:30pm.

The Village Association is holding a 'Town Hall Meeting' on Monday 21st October at 6.30pm in Chillas Hall. Many of our district leaders have been invited to provide information to the public and answer some questions. This meeting will be of interest to everyone in the Lanark area.

On Sunday 27th October there will be a scallop lunch in Chillas Hall from 1pm to celebrate the launch of a mural created by Joan Matey with the assistance of artist Barbara Ryan, dedicated to the first Queen of Lanark Village, Gene Sewell, and depicting the many organisations and interests of Lanark. More information to follow in the coming weeks.

On Thursday 31st October the Lanark Village Association will be holding a Halloween party at Chillas Hall. Further information to follow.

I love Lanark!

Pat Sewell Funderburk is a columnist for the Times Lanark News. Be sure to send her news and society articles about life in Lanark Village to [email protected].