Webster Lake guest of honor at party

Webster Lake group holds fund-raising barbecue

Jean Laquidara Hill
T&G STAFF

WEBSTER- Judith A. Morrison grew up in town, taking swimming lessons at Memorial Beach summers from the time she was 5 or 6 until she turned 13. But she was in awe years later upon realizing Webster Lake stretched far beyond her view from Memorial Beach.

The lake, which is also called Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, covers 1,442 acres and is actually three bodies of water - North, Middle and South ponds - connected by narrow channels. In all, the lake has 17 miles of shoreline. Memorial Beach is on North Pond.

As an adult, Mrs. Morrison decided she would live on the lake. And in 1986 she went in a boat to look at a cottage on Long Island in Webster Lake, where she now lives. Appreciating its beauty and its importance as a resource, she joined the Webster Lake Association, which was founded three years ago and works with other members to teach the general public about the lake, its availability for fun and its need to be clean.

Yesterday, Mrs. Morrison watched as more than 140 people from the community enjoyed the beach and shore on the peninsula of Memorial Beach, and joined in fund-raising events for WLA at its first community barbecue at Memorial Beach. Children had their faces painted, competed in races and swiveled their hips in hula hoop contests, with the hula hoops as prizes for the many winners.

Adults and children took $5 rides on a pontoon boat that Indian Ranch owners loaned to WLA for the event. They ate barbecue, listened to the music of Above and Beyond Entertainment of Worcester and socialized. Barbecue meals were $8.50 each, and Mrs. Morrison said 140 people had purchased meals by late afternoon.

Webster Pride Coalition assisted at no cost. The police department loaned WLA child-size life jackets for boat rides.

People also bought 50-50 raffle tickets, which paid off $125 in one of the drawings.

The profit from yesterday's beach day will help WLA continue its weed-control programs, according to Paul F. Laframboise, co-chairman of the WLA environmental committee. The other co-chairmen are Robert Couture and Pamela Landry.

"To date, we did an assessment of the weed population in the lake last year," said Mr. Laframboise. He said variable and Eurasian milfoil, which are not natural to the lake, were found to be the most invasive and problematic weeds in the lake. "Last fall we prioritized the 10 worst sites that are active and treated them in June. They were treated with an herbicide and after that we harvested weeds from Sucker Brook," Mr. Laframboise said yesterday at the barbecue. He said clearing Sucker Brook created a 100-foot channel. To keep the channel clear, he said, the WLA will harvest the channel again in the fall and continue treating weed hot spots.

"In our first year we did the study, In our second year we did the treatment. This is a great group of people," Mr. Laframboise said about the WLA.

The WLA is also working with the town on sediment control and already has agreed to provide $3,500 of the $10,000 in matching funds that the town must pay to get $10,000 in state grant money toward sediment control. The point, Mr. Laframboise said, is to make the lake healthy by freeing it from invasive weeds and from silt buildup to maintain its health, and to attract people from all over town to the lake to enjoy it.

"The unfortunate thing is you once you have it (milfoil) you can't eradicate it," he said, adding that the weed is brought to the lake on boats that pick it up in other bodies of water. "It's really carelessness. If people clean their boats the weeds won't get transported from one lake to another."

Mr. Laframboise, who has lived on the lake for the past 15 years, said he moved here because his wife, Nancy, moved to the lake with her parents when she was 18 years old, and missed it after moving away. Now, he said, he loves it and would not want to live anyplace else. It is particularly satisfying, he said, for him and Mrs. Laframboise to watch their three sons, Jeff, 15, Eric, 12, and Troy, 7, grow up with the lake as their playground.

For Jane M. Hill, vice president of the WLA, yesterday's barbecue was as much about community building as it was about raising awareness of the lake. She credited Mrs. Morrison with directing three months of planning, and the town's highway department and Webster Pride for their problem solving when it came to arranging a safe, fun event.

Describing the day as "fabulous," Mrs. Hill said it will absolutely be held again next summer.