LAKE ST. JOHN &045; It doesn’t take any special brilliance to know that life at Lake St. John, a small community located around the body of water it is named for, revolves around that water.

And at no time is that more evident than this coming weekend, when the yearly flotilla of boats will travel down the lake in celebration of the Fourth of July. That flotilla is one of the biggest events of the year

&uot;It is going to be wild. We’ve been full for months,&uot; Sheryl Neely said.

Neely, who owns Spokane Resort along with husband Jimmy, said this weekend will be one of their busiest of the year, both for boat launches and for their cabins.

Jimmy said many local residents rent the cabins for friends and family who are coming in for the weekend.

The weekend is a boon for the few businesses in the area that generally serve local residents and weekend visitors to the lake. Local anglers, who generally make up a large portion of the visitors the area, will likely avoid the lake this weekend because of the high number of people that will be out.

&uot;It’s mostly just boats playing around in the water,&uot; Charlotte Bell said. &uot;There’s not a lot of fishing this weekend. Usually on weekends we have 40 or so boats. This weekend we’ll have a lot more.&uot;

Charlotte’s husband Tom owns Lake St. John Grocery, which sells gas, food, guns and bait. They also have a number of trailer and camping spots, which Charlotte said are all already full.

&uot;We’ve been making ice for a week to get ready for this,&uot; Charlotte said. &uot;We’re all stocked up on cold drinks, beer, soda, and sandwiches ready for this weekend.&uot;