“King Candy” from Candy Land tosses, fittingly, candy to kids along the parade route from the Birch Meadows Senior Care float during the Water Festival Parade Thursday. Some of the floats had a board game theme, fitting the theme of the festival.
Gabriel Cruz of Sturgis waves to the camera on the Merry-Go-Round at the Three Rivers Water Festival midway Friday.
By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — Although there was a light steady rain on one of its three days, organizers of this year’s Three Rivers Water Festival say for the most part, this year’s festival was still a fairly successful one.
“We’re super grateful for all our community for coming out and supporting this, super grateful for all of our sponsors because it’s very expensive to put on a festival and all the aspects that go along with it,” Three Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Christy Trammell said. “We couldn’t do it without the community support, the community volunteers, so very grateful for all of those.”
This year’s festival attracted thousands to Three Rivers over the three days of events, starting with the street parade on Thursday, which Trammell said had over 1,100 participants, a significant number given there weren’t many political entries into the parade, and packed crowds along both Michigan Avenue and Main Street as the parade went by.
“We’re always impressed by the community and the support they provide and the community pride they have in coming out and supporting the parade,” Trammell said. “That [number of participants] goes to show the support we have for our own community.”
One of the stories of the festival would be the rain that occurred for the majority of the day Friday. While it was a steady, light rain, nearly all of the festivities on Friday went ahead as scheduled, including the soap box derby and cornhole tournament in the afternoon.
However, there was one event cancellation on Friday due to the weather. The Silent Disco, which was scheduled to occur on Main Street about an hour after the start of the cornhole tournament, was cancelled hours before it was supposed to begin, and was not rescheduled. Trammell said the cancellation was mainly due to logistical issues regarding location and technology.
“We tried to find an indoor location, but on last minute like that, everything we tried was not available,” Trammell said, adding there were also concerns about the electronic equipment being rented for the event. “We don’t own the equipment, so we have to rent it, and when you rent the equipment, you’re limited to the availability, so that’s very different than if you owned it.”
While Saturday was a bit overcast for most of the day, there was no precipitation falling from the heavens, and all but one event went on as scheduled without any hitches. Trammell said many of the Saturday events were well-attended, including the pancake breakfast at the fire department, the Kids Zone, and the car show, despite Vicksburg’s car festival being held on the same day.
“Despite being up against theirs, we still had a significant number; they said they were over 130 [cars],” Trammell said.
The morning festivities also included the Hope United Superhero 5K and Fun Run, which had plenty of participation, as well as the Woman’s Club pie sale during the car show, which reportedly sold out before the afternoon.
Rolling into the afternoon on Saturday was the return of the Duck Race, which had in the past been a fundraiser for Relay For Life, but this year was a fundraiser for the Three Rivers Promise scholarship program. Trammell said the fundraiser sold out of all its tickets, and despite a run-in with a water snake in a net in the St. Joseph River, went off without a hitch.
There were also a number of musical performances Saturday, which included the Three Rivers Germany Band and the Kalamazoo Concert Band. The musical performances wrapped up in the evening with Derek Winter, who Trammell said got good reviews from those in attendance.
“It was very good. The public agreed he was very good, and they can all see him going somewhere, in a positive way,” Trammell said.
The festival concluded with the town’s major fireworks display, with fireworks shooting off from Memory Isle to cheers from the crowds around the festival area. There was supposed to be backing music to the fireworks display, which for the first time would’ve been simulcast with WLKM, but there were technical issues with the backing track that led to the first song of the track – the main theme to Star Wars – being repeatedly started and stopped with what appeared to be a phone’s notification tone, which eventually led to there being no music to go with this year’s display.
Trammell said the issue with the music stemmed from how the music track was being played via a phone, adding that those issues will be rectified for future festivals.
“The sound people were trying to use their phone to sync it, and their phone was conflicting with the high-tech sound equipment, so it needed to be a dedicated flash drive or another device that wasn’t hooked up to the internet in order for it to work,” Trammell said. “When they tried it earlier in the day, it was working, but things happen. The show must go on.”
“Disappointing for sure, but we know what went wrong, and how to not let it happen again,” Trammell added.
Despite those issues, Trammell said there were plenty of positives to take away from this year’s festival, and that organizers are already taking notes on how they can improve for next year’s festival. In the end, though, Trammell noted it was a positive experience.
“Overall, it was a huge success,” Trammell said.
Three Rivers Police Department Chief Scott Boling said there was only one notable incident police responded to during the festival, an alleged assault, but noted that after interviewing all involved, there was not any probable cause to submit any charges. Other than that, he said, there were several reports of lost children that were “quickly” found.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
