Engaged on Crescent Beach - The Olejniczak Story

What started out as an intention to propose during Shanty Days of 1997, turned out to be the perfect boardwalk engagement for Sara and Marty Olejniczak. Marty, claiming himself to be “young and naive”, didn’t realize his plans to pop the question during the festival would be stalled by waiting for the arrival of the ring. Once it arrived, Marty picked the boardwalk as the spot, as he and Sara frequently took walks there. Sara explains she was “shocked, had no clue”, and according to Marty, was so taken aback she had to sit on the nearby bench to gain composure.

The love birds had met playing volleyball in leagues in Green Bay and at Southern Door High School. Their short engagement quickly led to marriage in March of 1998 and a house in Algoma. As they stated, “four kids, seven grandkids, and two dogs later”, they are here in Algoma and still enjoying Crescent Beach. Sara is a board committee member of Friends of Crescent Beach and often her family joins her to do beach cleanups and other beach related volunteer activities. They remarked they still make a point to show the boardwalk and beach off to visiting friends and family and it’s very important to bring the grandkids to kite fest.

Friends of Crescent Beach is an all-volunteer organization working to research and compile information about the history of the boardwalk through interviews, newspaper clippings and records. If you have information you would like to add, please let us know by submitting through this link. We are collecting historical information, photographs, and personal stories of the boardwalk. If you would like to donate to preserving the boardwalk for another 25 years, please visit our donation page.