PIKE COUNTY, Pa. — Only a few boats could be seen driving around on Lake Wallenpaupack in Palmyra Township, but docked at the marinas boats were lined up as far as the eye could see.
Workers are getting them ready for Memorial Day Weekend.
"Kids have off for the long weekend for school and everybody gets excited to be out on the boat and have some fun. so that's kind of the beginning of summer around here if you will," said Joel DeYoung is a salesman at 1st Klas Marina on the lake.
He says staff is busy making repairs and doing routine maintenance on the more than 400 boats they store and then move from land to water.
"We have to take every boat in shrink wrap," DeYoung said. "Cut the shrink wrap off. make sure that it's all running well and cleaned up for all the customers and then we get it in the water. Our goal is obviously a few a day. They're probably doubling that goal right now just to get everything ready for the holiday."
DeYoung says the demand for getting out on the water is just as high as it's ever been, with nearly every marina here around the lake working overtime getting boats in the water for this weekend.
"We saw a huge increase with covid. Obviously, when we got shut down in March of 2020 I was kinda fearing for my job, but then two weeks later I got here and everybody started buying boats it was kinda wild. Outdoor recreation was the first thing to reopen and everybody's super excited to get in the water and keep enjoying the water and the outdoors," DeYoung said.
Ahead of the holiday weekend and Summer there's a message DeYoung hopes people pick up on when it comes to safety:
"This weekend there's always a lot of new boaters and that kind of thing if you're born I believe it's after 82 you have to get your boater safety certificate but we always recommend just doing that course regardless so that everybody is safe and know how to boat especially on the busy weekends," DeYoung says.
Many people will look to get out on the water Saturday which means it is crunch time to get work completed.