The sun struggled to shine through the layers of grey clouds shadowing the sky on Saturday, July 26th – Water Festival Day – but that didn’t stop anyone from showing up and having fun. All across John Peake Park booths were set up, smiling and ready for visitors and residents to come by and peruse their wares, services, and goodies.
Participants in the Wakeboard Competition arrived at 10 am to register and by 11 am the competition was in full swing, starting with the girls division and working their way up. The competition took place on the north side of the lake so if you had your chairs set up anywhere else along the lake and didn’t see any of the action, this is why.
Lake tours also began at 11 am and ran every 20 minutes throughout the day until 4 pm. In order to earn yourself a ticket on these tour boats you had to do the hokey-pokey and jump in the lake. just kidding; all you had to do was make a monetary or food donation to the Chestermere Food Bank.
The Kids Fun Zone opened at 10 am and closed at 4 pm. The fun activities included bounce houses, mini golf, a Velcro & climber wall, face painting, a super slide, an obstacle course, kiddie striker, assorted games, and, hold onto your hats because you slept in late Saturday and missed it, a performance by Captain Jack Sparrow!
At 12 noon the beer gardens, hosted by Chestermere Lions Club, roared into action. New this year was the option to purchase wine at the Beer Gardens! Sorry if you missed it.
1 pm signaled the start of the Summer Music Showcase featuring Eve Hell and the Razors, All Hands on Jane, Georgia Sound, Kirstyn Johnson, Blueswak, and the very talented Drew Gregory who head lined at 8 pm.
2 pm was the start of the Water Festival Wipeout. Participants were required to run, bounce or splash their way through a floating obstacle course on Chestermere Lake made of trampolines, slides, and donut shaped floatables; anyone over the age of 18 was given the opportunity to try this slippery water course. A lot of youths were disappointed about the age limitation so perhaps next year a smaller course can be set up for them. Crowds gathered to watch the wipeout and boisterously cheered on the competitors.
The Redneck Regatta, which was supposed to have started at 3 pm, was put on hold until after 4 pm when the wakeboarding competition finished. It was more than a little frustrating for the people who wanted to see both the regatta and the rubber ducky race at Rainbow Falls but found it especially hard to be in two places at once.
When the Redneck Regatta did begin, it began loudly! Onlookers cheered as kids frantically paddled from the dock, pushing and shoving at each other, heading for the buoy. Those big yellow inflatable ducks might look fun, but they are not easy to paddle!
4 pm at Rainbow Falls was the starting line of the Ducks for Bucks rubber ducky race, proceeds going towards the Synergy Group. They started just below the reeds under the falls and dumped the duckies into the drink, herding them down the twisting creek to a predetermined spot where they were pulled out and ranked as to whose ducky won the race. Several volunteers followed the duckies along their journey, giving them a helping push every time they snagged.
By 4 pm most of the big events were over, but that didn’t mean the party was over – far from it! The Summer Music Showcase was still going with people shimmying and swinging onto the dance floor as the air was filled with that foot-tapping country beat and the Beer Garden was doing a brisk business as everyone relaxed and enjoyed their Saturday night.
The fireworks display was set for dusk, which was supposedly 10 pm, but they only began after 11 pm, and they were well worth the wait! Thank you to the pyrotechnicians that took the time to set up such an amazing, albeit loud at times, display.
A big thank you as well to all the unsung volunteers that helped set up the gazebos, took a hand in supervising the Kid’s Fun Zone, beer garden, and kept things running smoothly throughout the day and cleaned up afterwards. Without you all the Chestermere Water Festival wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun as it was.
