Big Lake Lions Club hosts 31st annual mud volleyball tournament

BIG LAKE — The 31st annual mud volleyball tournament hosted by the Big Lake Lions Club got off to a muddy and damp start Saturday morning.

The rain began coming down around 11 a.m. and the generator used to announce teams and play music wasn’t working, so the Lions had to transport a new one in from Yukon Equipment. For the first hour, a loud speaker was used to announce heats for the teams until power was restored to the event.

The players and volunteers were not deterred.

Despite the steam rising from everyone’s breath, most people walked around in mud soaked T-shirts and bare feet.

“It’s Alaska so you just roll with it. We’re already freezing in the water,” said Ben Wright, a player from the Musharks.

Some of the teams, such as The Empire Strikes Back, were made up of second-generation Lions Club members, whose parents played in the same event in the 1980s. Many groups designed elaborately-printed matching shirts displaying a variety of suggestive team names, while others wore homemade jerseys and some entered the mud pit in no shirts at all.

The tournament is the biggest fundraiser the Lions put on and this year, and hit a record number of participants with 67 teams, nine more than last year.

The event is hosted entirely by volunteers, and the money raised from participant registration is put back into the community. Some of the money goes to the Big Lake Recreation Center, which offers free open skate every Saturday and Sunday in the winter. The multi-million dollar facility is indoors and is made up of naturally frozen ice. The funds collected from the tournament can also go to providing scholarship money for graduating high school seniors who wish to attend college in the state.

The annual tradition of mud volleyball started on a bet, according to Jaime Estes, president of the Lions Club and mud volleyball coordinator.

Locals were trying to raise funds for the purchase of a fire boat for the fire department, and mud volleyball was one of multiple events used to raise the money. The bet was on which event could raise the most. In the early days, spectators were minimal and a few teams of local business people would challenge each other every year. Gradually the competition grew in popularity.

“Once the other locals started getting involved, more teams would sign up, and it became a bigger event of about 20 teams, and we added a second mud pit. As the area grew, so did the event. Now we’re up to 67 teams and three mud pits,” Estes said.

Estes is a third-generation club member. Her grandmother was a charter member for the Big Lake Lioness Club in the 1980s and her mother was a board member later on. All three were involved in mud volleyball.

“I’ve lived in Big Lake my entire life and it’s just the Saturday before solstice in Big Lake we play mud volleyball. It’s tradition,” she said.

The mud pits are made each year, the Friday before, and the local fire department helps by pumping water from Big Lake into the giant holes in the ground. Afterwards the Lions dig out the corners and drain them.

This year’s volleyball was put on with the help of six sponsors: Fisher’s Fuel, Big Boys Toys Storage, Three Bears Alaska, Bob’s Mini Mart, Alaska Custom Containers and Storage and Denali Refuse. Four food trucks parked themselves in the mud at the base of the pits, and DJ Michael Newcity with NewCity Entertainment provided announcing and music.

The tournament concluded at 7 p.m. with Fisher’s Fuel as the 2018 champions.