[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...ab856449268.txt

Bog not part of Summer Fest

From Staff Reports
Published: Thursday, June 10, 2010 4:14 AM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — The mud bog event has been dropped from this year’s Michigan City Summer Festival.

“The reason is Darren Westphal was let go and he handled that whole thing,” Summer Festival Committee member Bill Greene said. Westphal, the former park maintenance superintendent, was let go earlier this year.

“He dug the pit, got the insurance, got people like Apex Muffler to support it, he got the PA system and he did that all on his own,” Greene said. “We decided we (the Summer Festival Committee) didn’t know too much about it, and we wouldn’t have it this year.”

The Try It Again Mud Bog started as a one-day event and expanded over the course of several years to two days of four-wheel-drive trucks splattering mud as they attempted to drive through the bog. Most failed and were towed out by a piece of heavy machinery.

The entertainment drew a lot of people and revenue for the Parks Department, Greene said. Last year, more than 4,000 people attended and 91 trucks participated.

“Things have to change, and they do change,” he said.

[Ang]

What he should have said was, "We're just too "bogged" down to figure out how to manage this event and frankly, we don't feel like going to the trouble"