By Douglas P. Marsh
WEST BRANCH- Over 200 participants attended the West Branch Optimist Club’s annual camel races at the Knights of Columbus Hall on March 21. Three dozen local businesses and organizations sponsored and decorated camelid silhouettes.
Attendees voted for their favorites and were invited to place wagers with “camel bucks” as event volunteers used large, multicolored cubes* to determine the camels’ progress down long tracks of corresponding colors.
Kirtland Community College, a newcomer to the races this year, took the prize for the overall winner. Common Grounds Ladies Fellowship and North Land Federal Credit Union’s camels won the trophies for Best Dressed and Most Popular, respectively.
“We do this every year,” said Lawrence Clason, as he took stock of this year’s entries before the races. “It’s a lot of fun.”
The races have been held for the past 17 years and serve as the club’s sole annual fundraising event. Raffle prizes this year included Detroit Lions and Tigers merchandise packages, tool and cookware sets and more.
Optimist Clubs emerged in the United States after the turn of the 20th century, establishing an international organization in 1919. Now composed of over a thousand clubs in the U.S. and tens of thousands of members worldwide, the organization’s mission is to benefit community youth.
“The Optimist Club is all about kids,” said Alan Doss, a longtime club member. “We put on the Halloween Party at the school; we also do an Easter Egg Hunt.”
The West Branch Optimist Club works regularly with five local area schools providing tissues through charity drives, conducting oratorical and essay contests, pencils and papers drives, and awarding scholarships and grants to students.
This year the club had a surplus of tissue which they donated to Ogemaw Heights High School. WBOC also initiated a new program with COOR ISD, organizing an ice cream social and visual essay contest for special needs students, said Camel Race Chair Charles Snyder.
In the summer, the club holds a Trout Derby, seed spitting contest, and a frog jumping contest in Irons Park. WBOC also sponsors West Branch Little League.
The West Branch Optimist Club meets weekly on Thursdays at 7 a.m. in West Branch at Logger’s Depot. The group is always looking for new members.
PIC 1: Cube thrower Lynn Madison readies for a test toss.
PIC 2: Attendees at the 2026 West Branch Optimist Club Camel Races at the Knights of Columbus Hall in West Branch discuss and vote which entries are best dressed as anticipation builds for the races to begin.
PIC 3: Miss Caramel-Latté, second from left, was awarded Best Dressed at the West Branch Optimist Club’s 2026 Camel Races. Photo by Chuck Snyder
