In the event you’re not one of the 120 performance-boat owners who found the needle in the Boyne Thunder Poker Run haystack and are looking for a remarkable July 11 weekend event on a pristine northern waterway, consider the HK Powersports Land and Lake Poker Run on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee. Without question, the waterway is a tad off the beaten path.
Also with question? Its far-flung nature is part of what the Lake Winnipesaukee affair so compelling.
Plus, with the likes of locals such as offshore racers Chris Hopgood and Daren Kittredge and well-known performance-boat owners Danny DeSantis and Gary Robertson, the waterway has a legitimate go-fast boating scene.
Organized by Cynthia Makris, the third-generation owner of the 90-plus-year-old NASAW Resort on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, the HK Powersports Land and Lake Poker Run will celebrate is 25th anniversary this year. The event, which attracted approximately 200 vessels last year, raises funds for Easterseals of New Hampshire. Makris and company are on pace to reach the $2 million mark this year.
With the nation celebrating its 250th birthday the weekend before the HK Powersports Land and Lake Poker Run Makris is planning on making the Lake Winnipesaukee even more delightful than usual.
“My poker run is very personal and meaningful for me,” Makris said following last year’s event. “It’s a fund-raising—and ‘fun-raising’—event that helps thousands of people.”
Added Hopgood, “The lake is spectacular, the people are great and the charity aspect is wonderful. There’s not much more you could ask for.”