To create a close knit community on Big Carnelian Lake through fun and celebration, and to share our blessings by financially supporting local needs in the Stillwater area.
Our History
In 2016, a few families who attend Eagle Brook Church thought it would be fun to have the church band come out and play live music outdoors at the lake. Around that same time, our dear friend Craig Chamberlin’s lymphoma returned and we decided to make the concert a fundraiser for Craig. The cost of the band was paid for by 3 lake families, and 100% of the concert donations went to Craig. The Lake neighborhood stepped up big time, and raised $2500 for Craig.
When those 3 lake families got together to celebrate the success of the event, it was noted that although the purpose of the concert was to raise money to help financially support Craig through extremely difficult times, there was a tremendous amount of community building going on. It was apparent that people were meeting each other that had never had the chance to before. Anchoring boats next to total strangers for an event allowed neighbors to become friends. Out of those experiences, Carnelian Cares was born. We knew we could help to bring this community closer while doing some greater good in the Stillwater area.
In 2017, we hired the same church band and chose Valley Outreach as the recipient of all funds raised over the cost of the band. We donated just over $1000 despite the wild weather that blew in to cancel the second half of the concert.
In 2018, Carnelian Cares secured the St. Croix Valley’s well-known and well-loved band, The Dweebs. We had a record turn out of neighbors and friends. The band really got into the venue, even venturing into the water to visit some of the boats! Although it was a windy day, the event over $5300 for Community Thread. A Stillwater based organization that coordinates volunteers and helps those in need in our valley area.
In 2019 the Dweebs played again and we set a new donation record, raising $8,942 for Valley Outreach. This was the first year we implemented the idea of corporate sponsorship and 7 local lake business owners pitched in to fully cover the cost of the band upfront so that all donations would go straight to Valley Outreach. A shout out goes to these generous organizations: Lynskey & Clark Real Estate, OSI Physcial Therapy, Cornerstone Surveying, Morrow Partners, Performance Pool & Spa, MFC Properties, and the John K and Margaret A Ogren Foundation.
Now that we are settling into an annual event we have decided to make Valley Outreach our dedicated recipient of donations. This organization truly lines up with our mission statement to support local needs in our community of Stillwater.
2020 brought us a pandemic, and then a cold and windy concert day to top things off. In light of the pandemic, the committee debated on whether to have the concert, or postpone a year. We decided that our friends and neighbors needed something positive to look forward to, and the need at Valley Outreach was at an all-time high, so we pressed on hoped for the best. Corporate sponsors stepped up once again and covered the overhead costs. Tim Sigler and his band brought their A-game and tremendous energy to a crowd of 50+ boats with straining anchors, all singing along and dancing on boats and on land. Everyone was ALL-IN to celebrate and have some fun, and it didn't seem to matter what the weather was doing. One of the sponsor's boats tried to pull off their best Gilligan's Island impression and nearly sunk as their pontoon took on water. Fortunately, they made it home, and back to the concert site on land to enjoy the music and camaraderie. Nothing seemed to be going the way we planned. BUT, in true Carnelian community fashion, everyone rallied! The result was nothing short of a miracle. We raised $14,716 for Valley Outreach - an all time high by a long shot! It was clear that our mission was fulfilled once again.
2021 In our third year of corporate sponsorship, and our 6th year of the concert, we brought back Tim Sigler for an encore performance. The weather was a perfect 70 degrees, sunny and light wind. There were about 50 boats, and we had a record setting floatilla with 9 boats tied together in the front row and singing along. The committee set a lofty goal to raise $20k, which was achieved when counting the sponsorship dollars, and $16,329 went directly to Valley Outreach - the most money raised to date! Never falling short was the neighborhood effort and commitment to host the annual event. So many people pitch in to make it all work- set up and tear down of the stage; sponsorship fundraising; social media posts; early donation prizes; and Jodi's gracious hosting every year. "It takes a village" and this village is THE BEST!
2022 A new record setting year with new entertainment. Chris Kroeze, runner up on NBC's The Voice entertained us for 3 hours on a cloudy but warm day. Hoping to finally crest the $20k mark in donations, we came in at $23,107!! Thanks to our corporate sponsors who had to kick in a little extra to make this happen. This was our first year with a thoughtful and planned social media push as well, which got a lot of attention. Once again, all proceeds went to Valley Outreach.
2023 New entertainment with the Fabulous Armadillos and a series of events that almost canceled the event in the final 24 hours. The weather forecast all week continued to get worse, and with 24 hours to go there was a 99% chance of all day rain. The band agreed to make the final decision at 07:00 on the morning of the concert. On Sunday morning, the chance of rain was down to 50% and the committee made the bold decision to give it a try. At 10:00, the entire lake had a power outage, just as the band was arriving to set up. Undeterred, the band set up under the tent and not a single drop of rain had fallen all morning. Jodi Kraemer (property owner and host) had recently installed a whole-house generator, and called her electrician nephew to come and figure out how to run power to the stage from that. By noon, all circuits were connected with stand-by power and we were in business. The Armadillos were indeed Fabulous, and somehow there was never a single drop of rain all day. By the time the concert ended at 5:00pm, the power came back on at 5:15 and we all laughed. What a rollercoaster! The result was another record setting year, raising $31,190 with about 2/3 of our normal attendance.
2024 The Fabulous Armadillos were back for the second year in a row, and we finally got some great weather. We had a record setting number of boats on the water at 61, and a record setting donation amount for a single year at $34,403 for Valley Outreach.
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