Friends kayak down the Flat Rock River during a previous July gathering.
Submitted photo
As upwards of 30 friends gather for camping, golf and a canoe trip the third weekend in every July, eventually, the topic turns to how long ago the gathering originated.
“We have that conversation about every year: ‘When did we start this thing?’ Jim Arthur said.
By Arthur’s estimation, it began close to 40 years ago with him, Kevin Baker and Ray Marr. The gathering grew to six the next year and kept expanding from there. It now consists of around 30 to 45 people, who dubbed themselves “Flat Rock University.”
“Word of mouth got out with some of our other friends,” Arthur said. “They said, ‘Hey, I want to do that.’ As we got older, we said, ‘Hey, we have a base camp. Let’s just stay there.’ It’s just a fun, male-bonding weekend being with our friends.”
Some of the campers arrived Wednesday on a 200-acre site owned by Shelby Materials near Edinburgh. Some will arrive today, and most of the younger participants who aren’t retired will get there on Friday.
Arthur built a campground on the site for he and his friends to camp. About 20 years ago, they added a Friday golf outing at Timbergate, then a fish fry on Friday evening.
Dan Mace is in charge of the fish fry. They fry about 30 pounds of fish, cook some cheesy potatoes and maybe some corn.
“It’s kind of a staple there,” Mace said. “That’s one thing that never changes, is the Friday night fish fry.”
Mace has been involved in the outing since 1996.
“My friend Mark Gorbett invited me, and I’ve been going ever since,” Mace said. “I look forward to it. It’s almost the highlight of my summer. It’s just a general, all-around good time, good friends that we don’t get to see a lot throughout the year, good food, good friends, good time.”
Gorbett, the former Bartholomew County Sheriff and current city councilman, once got called away from the outing because of a jailbreak. He was one of the original participants after Arthur, Baker and Marr.
“All of of us have been friends since high school, and we went our separate ways during our college years and then ended up back together,” Arthur said.
Another staple of the festivities is the Saturday canoe and kayak trip. They begin near Flat Rock and travel down the Flat Rock River to a spot near CR 900 North.
Those trips haven’t always been smooth sailing.
“We put a rule in probably about 10 or years ago,” Arthur said. “We had some brothers that were in the same boat. They got in a fight and separated and got out of the canoe and out of the river and went their separate ways. We were worried about them. So we put in a rule, no brothers in the same canoe.”
Another year, Dr. David Rau, who usually also goes on the trip, had to cut a hook out of a guy’s finger.
Weather has been another issue.
“Within that 35-40-year period, we’ve gone through many weather environments,” Arthur said. “We’ve had hot, we’ve had storms, but I don’t think we’ve ever missed a year.”
The gathering has expanded to a second generation of participants. Arthur, Baker and Marr now have sons who take part in the gathering.
“Jim is sort of the godfather of the group,” Gorbett said. “We have all walks of life. We have guys that do have a beer or two out there on the river and some guys that don’t drink. Early on, you had to be 21 because they were going to be drinking. We’ve had guys come in from all over for the weekend.”
Gorbett said the festivities have come a long way from the old days, when they slept on sandbars in the Flat Rock River.
“I had to borrow one of my kids’ Winnie The Pooh sleeping bag one of the first couple years,” Gorbett said. “Nowdays, there’s probably about five RVs and camper trailers, and we just camp out, and the rest of them sleep in tents. Instead of a weekend, it’s gone to almost a week of activity up there. It’s something everybody looks forward to every year. Sometimes, we don’t see somebody all year until we see them there.”
Arthur agreed.
“It’s just a lot of fun, ” Arthur said. “It’s just a male-bonding weekend. It reminds me a little bit of the Welmer fish fry because some of these guys on the trip, it might be the only time of the year that I see them.”
