GLADSTONE — The Spring Social, held annually by the Gladstone Lions Club and this year in conjunction with the Bay de Noc Lions Club, is set to raise funds for the Gladstone Sail School. The event will take place Saturday, April 20, at the Terrace Bluff Country Club.

Troy Drebenstedt, now a seasonal employee with the City of Gladstone Parks and Recreation Department, was responsible for reviving the sailing program that had been conducted in Gladstone years ago.

“It was a staple of the community for decades,” said Drebenstedt.

When he moved to the area five years ago, he began inquiring about the Gladstone Sail School he’d heard about so that his own children and nieces and nephews might benefit. He found that it had been “mothballed for about a decade,” as he put it, and was handed the dusty reins — or in this case, lines.

Drebenstedt said that the boats dedicated to the purpose were from the 1970s and falling apart. Those were used for the first year of the restored school’s inaugural class of eight kids. “We’ve been making a concerted effort over the last three years to improve the program,” Drebenstedt explained.

The second year, a little bit of funding allowed for the purchase of a couple used boats from a school out in Boston. Drebenstedt and his wife personally drove out to Massachusetts to collect them.

Just last year, three more boats were donated by Alex Sundstrom, a member of the Escanaba Yacht Club.

In just the short amount of time since Drebenstedt committed to raising the Gladstone Sail School back off the ground, the program has expanded. The first year, just a general, basic course was offered. Now, said Drebenstedt, they’ve been able to branch out into multiple classes, made possible by the newer, larger boats and increased community interest. Students who took part in classes three years in a row have been able to move up to instruct an intermediate-level course, and a member of the community who raced collegiately teaches “advanced sailing skills, tactics and techniques for sail racing,” Drebenstedt reported.

Near the end of the season two years ago, John Lindberg took students out for a ride on Cathexis, his 45-foot catamaran built by the late Irving DeRoeck, a businessman, sailor and boatbuilder from Gladstone. Last year, kids from the Gladstone Sail School again joined Lindberg aboard Cathexis in the Frostbite Race — the last Escanaba Yacht Club sailing race of the year, held in September.

The number of participants in the program more than quadrupled in just a few years. 2023 brought 30 kids and six parents to the Gladstone Sail School.

The course fee is set to be reasonable, and a scholarship is available for those who might have trouble meeting it. To make classes family-friendly, rates are in place for one person, two people, and three or more.

“We really want this to be inclusive to everybody,” Drebenstedt said, adding that the aim is to continue the school’s growth and improvement.

“Our drive this year is to get funding for a new sail shed where we can store our equipment but also use it as a classroom. We’re also looking at upgrading a lot of our equipment to make sailing more accessible for people with cognitive or physical handicaps,” he said.

To this end, the Lions Clubs of Gladstone and Bay de Noc has designated the Gladstone Sail School the recipient of funds raised at this year’s Spring Social, which is sponsored by Baybank and Upper Peninsula State Bank.

The fundraiser kicks off at the Terrace Bluff Country Club at 7 p.m. on April 20, with a $15 admission collected upon entry. Once inside, guests may choose to take part in 50/50 raffles, a silent auction, bucket raffles, and two separate $20 card raffles for firearms. A performance by the Jam Band begins at 8 p.m.

For more information about the Spring Social or the Lions Clubs, interested parties may contact Bill Sjoquist at (906)280-3740.

When details about this year’s courses become available, they will be on the City of Gladstone’s Parks and Recreation page, and sign-up sheets will be distributed at local schools.