LAKE NATOMA GLOW PADDLE WITH VIDEO

Paddlers taking part in the 4th annual Glow Paddle gleamed in the darkness on California State Park's Lake Natoma last weekend as they illuminated their canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards with colorful lights and decorations during the yearly paddle.
"It was a blast," said John Taylor, a paddler with Bayside Adventures Sports, an active Sacramento faith-based outdoor group, "All the boats were lit up so well. Hats off to all for making this happen."

For the past three years, the unofficial Glow Paddle has been held in conjunction with the Folsom Parks & Recreation Department's annual Glow Event. The walk/ run is a family-friendly, non-competitive run/walk for all ages where participants dressed up in costumes that glowed, blinked, sparked, and shined along the route. The neon shining walkers and runners decked out with glow sticks, glow glasses, glow necklaces lit up the trail from Folsom's Historic District, across the walk bridge over Lake Natoma, through the Negro Bar unit of the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, and back again.

Paddler Pearli Van used Facebook to ignited the first Glow Paddle event on Lake Natoma. That year, only a few paddlers were flickering under the walk bridge to cheer on the walkers when they passed by. The next two Glow Paddles glimmered even brighter as more paddling groups became involved.
But when the Covid-19 pandemic doused the official Glow Event, that did not stop paddlers like Tim Senechal from generating the power to keep it going.
"This year there was no Folsom glow run to accompany it, but that didn’t stop us!" wrote Senechal on Facebook.

Photo Courtesy of Kassie Lee

Over 100 paddlers took part in the event, many from area paddling groups while other paddlers just came out after hearing about the event on social media. During the Glow Paddle, organizers stressed social distancing at the access at the Negro Bar boat ramp, along with wearing a PFD and following all state recreation area rules.

"So I was one of the jealous folks on the old bridge who had no clue you all existed until now," wrote Kassie Lee in a Facebook post, "Next time my SUP and I will be ready. Thanks for the pleasant surprise to my family's night out. The kids loved the lights.
"This event," wrote Senechal on a Facebook post, "Which started out with about 12 kayaks a few years ago, grew to over 100 kayakers tonight. This was no organized event. Just word of mouth through a few Facebook groups. Pretty amazing!" 

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