JANUARY 14TH, 2010
By LIZ WALZ
By LIZ WALZ
Scouting out a bright path for our industry
While I was a Brownie for a year or two in elementary school, it wasn’t my path to a love of the outdoors. I didn’t realize what an incredible impact Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts can have on kids until later in life. In my 20s, when I was dating my husband, I had a chance to attend quite a few Boy Scout ceremonies to cheer on his younger brother, Chad, who would eventually go on to achieve Eagle Scout. Over the years, I learned a lot about what was involved, from wilderness trips and fundraisers to the earning of patches of all colors, shapes and sizes. Most of all, I was impressed with how the program exposed kids to all kinds of experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have had. Read more >>
By David Parker and Jennifer Chandler, Parker Business Planning — Last spring, during a round of 20 Group meetings, I heard many of the dealers complaining about business, the economy, interest rates, new curtailments, the media and on and on. Then, I asked the dealers to switch their train of thought to tell me what was good about the boat business. The following article was written based upon the feedback that the dealers gave. 
I was driving in the car yesterday when 
After the alarm went off this morning, my husband and I were talking about how fast the summer is going this year. This is an annual conversation, and as usual, I’m reluctant to acknowledge that it’s almost over. The difference this year is that I’m much more satisfied with our summer. Last September, we decided we would devote this summer to family time with our son, Nathan, now four years old. What we couldn’t have anticipated then was that our family’s cabin in the Thousand Islands region of upstate New York would be available for so much of the summer. Because the cabin is shared by my mother, her three siblings and their children, we typically make it up there for one week of vacation and two or three other weekends. This year, as of the end of Labor Day weekend, we will have spent 24 days up there. 
When I was seven years old, I spent a lot of time fishing with my brother and our buddies. I would ride my bike about a mile from our house, rod and reel resting comfortably across the handlebars, to an old bridge that spanned a river in the local park. Catching fish seemed incredibly easy back then. We’d fill a hook with corn, straight out of the can, and it was rare when we wouldn’t wrestle with a day’s full of fish. We caught some big fish in those days – monsters for a kid my age – but we always dreamt of a better day when we could fish from a boat. As it turns out, there are about 8.5 million fishing enthusiasts who currently are not only dreaming of owning their own boat, but they are also actually considering boat ownership, as well. Do you have something to offer them? 
Our Memorial Day weekend plans were packed with activities. We took Friday off so that my wife and two girls and I could beat traffic heading north out of the Twin Cities and so we could spend some additional time together. My sister-in-law’s family had invited us to their cabin on a chain of lakes for the long weekend, and after our head start, they joined us on Friday night. Normally on these long weekends, I like to relax and avoid running from one activity to the next, but this time I got caught up in the flow. 
I love today. I love it because, for me, this is the first day of summer. It’s the Friday before Memorial Day. It’s the first of a number of more-than-two-day weekends I hope to enjoy this summer. It’s the first time I’ll be out on a boat this summer. And it’s a signal to me that it’s time to truly get excited about my top boating priority: muskie fishing. 