Photo courtesy of Zach Besmond<\/p><\/div>\n

Minnesota\u2019s Lake Minnetonka is quiet and pristine during the week \u2014 but on summer weekends, it\u2019s hedonism\u2019s headquarters<\/span><\/h5>\n

Words by Lauren Reno<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

For many, living the \u201clake life\u201d is relaxing, picturesque and the perfect way to experience nature. For others, it\u2019s more like a scene from <\/span>Animal House\u2014<\/span><\/i>just with water.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially the case for those on <\/span>Lake Minnetonka<\/span><\/a>. One of Minnesota\u2019s largest lakes, Minnetonka\u2014a mere 15 miles from downtown Minneapolis\u2014is the Twin Cities\u2019 watery playground. When the temperatures are hot enough, the lake goes ballistic, especially on weekends. And especially on the Fourth of July.<\/span><\/p>\n

The biggest attraction? \u201cBig Island.\u201d But it\u2019s less an actual island and more a crowd of hundreds of boats all tied together. Unsurprisingly, <\/span>craziness ensues<\/span><\/a>. Here are the accounts of three people who survived #BigIsland2016. <\/span><\/p>\n

Zach Desmond: <\/b>Student at the University of Minnesota. Avid lake partier. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201c[Big Island] is really close to the metro, which is what makes it unique. It\u2019s not by a cabin or anything, so everybody that has a boat can join the party.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jimmy Castle:<\/b> Student at the University of Minnesota. Avid lake partier. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cUsually a lot of people go there during the weekends. You can almost always see hundreds of boats there on big weekends when it\u2019s nice out.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Susan Fox:<\/b> Resident on Lake Minnetonka.<\/span><\/i> Grandmother. Avid pontoon rider. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re out on the water, maybe not even every weekend, maybe once a month, and [the partiers] tend to be young people. And there\u2019s usually alcohol involved, so it can be dangerous.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Castle: <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fourth of July is insane and probably not safe at all.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Desmond: <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so crazy there, you could get away with anything. As long as you don\u2019t pass out, you\u2019re okay. Everybody is crazy wasted, it\u2019s just a ton of drinking. \u2026 One time, I saw a girl who was passed out on a paddle board. She did not look okay, and she was just being pushed through the crowd of people to get her out to the police area for help. That\u2019s how crazy it gets.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Castle:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty obvious place where you\u2019d want to park your boat. It\u2019s protected because it\u2019s on the back side of an island. It\u2019s kind of a crescent moon shape, so it\u2019s pretty protected in that way, but it\u2019s also pretty open to the rest of the lake. I\u2019d say it\u2019s about three feet deep near the island, and it doesn\u2019t drop off or anything. It\u2019s really sandy, so it\u2019s pretty nice to walk around.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Desmond:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re just trying to get there, link up with someone else\u2019s boat and start walking around. \u2026 You just grab as many drinks as you can, and you meet up with as big a group as you can.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Fox: <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just try to stay away from it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Desmond: <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, a mass of boats will link together and make up one big sound system, and so those are really fun to get to, and the epicenter of the entire party is around those boats. So if you can get there through all the people, it\u2019s just wild.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Castle:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are families who are just parked and floating around, but then towards the middle, where that \u2018big island\u2019 is, is where it gets louder and there\u2019s a lot of people drinking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Desmond:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI was walking past a group of 15 people popping champagne bottles, with music blaring all around me, and I had no idea where I was. I was like, \u2018This is not Minnesota at all. This feels like Miami. It feels like a nightclub in the water.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Fox:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter big weekends like the Fourth of July, it\u2019s a garbage dump under the water. There\u2019s cans and bottles; food and silverware, and it can be really dangerous. <\/span><\/p>\n

Desmond:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody wears sandals because they don\u2019t want to get their feet cut.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fox:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople sometimes don\u2019t respect the lake because they\u2019re not on it, but that one time, so they just don\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Desmond:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who live there probably hate us. Because they live there all year, but we just come for a day and cause damage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fox:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a part of that, but you can\u2019t turn a blind eye to it, either, because it\u2019s destroying the quality of the lake. It\u2019s planet Earth, and you have to love it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Castle:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just part of Minnesota culture to go out on the lake with your friends and have a good time. It\u2019s just what you do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minnesota\u2019s Lake Minnetonka is quiet and pristine during the week. But on summer weekends, it\u2019s hedonism\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n