 Summer is starting to wind down and kids are about to go back to school, but you still have a few more opportunities to catch a long time tradition in Niswa. Clayton Castle has the story. Just as fishing and hunting are synonymous with summer in Minnesota, so are the turtle races put on every week in the summer in Niswa. So this is our 54th year of racing turtles in Niswa, so a long time standard tradition. All summer long from June to August. The history behind the turtle races centers around bringing people into Niswa who were visiting as well as the locals for an afternoon of fun in the summer. So I think it got started years ago from a downtown retailer he was looking for ways to pull people out of the resorts and into downtown Niswa to shop, so the looking flair of turtle races has changed a little bit over time. For some locals, the Niswa turtle races have been a long standing tradition dating back generations. Oh, just to get to know what the whole family always come with grandma and grandpa and the kids. Yeah, there's always a bunch of us and it's lots of fun and you get to pick the turtles and I like that. The races include groups of 20 racing for a grand championship. The day also includes five specialty races, a grandparents race, locals race, five an under race, out of town race and a resort race. All these races bring together residents of all ages to Niswa. I like the way everyone in the community comes together and there's people here from different states and different parts of the upper Midwest and everyone seems to really have a lot of fun doing this. It's great for the kids. It's just a lot of fun. You get a big group of people all looking to have a good time with all their kids enjoying themselves. With people streaming in for the turtle races, the event provides an excellent opportunity for surrounding businesses to profit on the event. Oh yeah, they love to go on the chocolate ox. They have lots of fun, all those different jelly beans and they get a big ice cream cone and they like to go shopping with grandma and they usually get a shirt out of it. The turtle races will conclude later this month. Reporting in Niswa, Clayton Castle, Lakeland News. Again, the turtle races happen every Wednesday through the end of August, right behind the Chamber of Commerce building in downtown Niswa. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.