Getting in the Flow

June 19, 2011

Times-Leader

Matt Hughes

Eighteen years ago, John Maday and a few friends sat down at some card tables in Nesbitt Park. They had an idea: a festival with no other aim than to bring people closer to the Susquehanna River, to experience its beauty and appreciate its role in their lives.

They sat down at their card tables, and a few people showed up.

Eighteen years later, Maday was back in Nesbitt Park, playing traffic cop as waves of kayakers landed at the boat launch and teams of dragon-boaters set off, 22 in a boat.

“We have 200-plus people on the water,” he says after directing a fan boat – a safety measure – past a dragon boat team lining up to board their vessel. “It takes a little bit of extra coordination to make sure it all fits.”

Eighteen years later, a whole lot more people showed up for RiverFest – thousands of them, in fact – but Maday, a member of the Riverfront Parks Committee Board of Directors and a RiverFest Coordinator, said Saturday that the festival has remained true to its roots.

“The sole purpose of RiverFest is environmental education and environmental celebration… and that’s the only purpose of it,” he said. “To teach people, you have to bring them to your classroom, and this is our classroom.”

As RiverFest has grown larger, so too has its footprint, as it has attracted vendors from outside the city and added activities in Wilkes-Barre’s downtown.

Saturday’s activities included a tour of Wilkes University’s Learning Garden and a children’s petting zoo by The Lands at Hillside Farms.

Hillside Farms Director of Development and Marketing Suzanne Kelly said the group brought its animals, including a 5-day-old bull calf, to the event from the Dallas teaching farm because RiverFest’s objectives matched those of Hillside.

“I think it shows people that the simple things can be the most beautiful,” Kelly said. “And it’s working; as soon as we brought the animals down the people just started to gather. What we’re really trying to do is reconcile a disconnect between people and nature and that just fit so well at an event like this.”

Other children’s activities at Riverfest included pony rides, a moon bounce, fish printmaking, tree climbing and field games.

Across Nesbitt Park, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital hosted a health fair, showcasing the hospital’s services and community programs.

“Wilkes-Barre General Hospital is a community fixture, and has been for over 130 years, and we are proud to support Wilkes-Barre, the river and the community we serve,” said Jim McGuire, spokesman for the hospital.

There was, as Maday put it, something for everybody at RiverFest.

“Where else are you going to go where you could learn something about the river, you could see George Wesley and Eddie Day and the Star Fires, and you could see the mayor of Wilkes-Barre in a dragon boat out on the river.”

Mayor Thomas Leighton was in a dragon boat Saturday, preparing for today’s races with the City of Wilkes-Barre team. The mayor said he planned not only to row in the race today, but to start the day by participating in the YMCA and Jewish Community Center’s Duathlon, which starts at 7:30 a.m. today on Public Square.

“It’s a great event not only for the city but for the valley as well,” the mayor said after returning ashore Saturday afternoon. “Last year I did the kayaking from Harding to Wilkes-Barre – everyone should do that at least once – and this year it’s a new adventure.”

As it has expanded, RiverFest has also broadened its appeal throughout the region.

Michael Markert, of Worcester, Montgomery County, grew up in Harding, and returned to his hometown Saturday to take a four-hour kayak sojourn to Wilkes-Barre with his girlfriend Kristen Saponaro – one of three kayak trips sponsored by RiverFest.

“It was just a great event to come back to the valley for,” Markert said.

“It was a lot of fun,” Saponaro, of Worcester, added. “It was really misty earlier this morning, and then it got clearer. It was very beautiful and tranquil.”

RiverFest and the River Common’s Thursday night concert series now draws bigger name musicians as well, River Common Director of Programming and Outreach Karl Borton said.

This year’s event featured artists like MiZ and K8, who have performed at nationally known music festivals, Borton said.

Eddie Day and the Star Fires, fronted by state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, took the stage at the River Common to headline the evening musical acts.

As RiverFest has grown larger, the event has not been without controversy. This year, natural gas drilling companies Chesapeake Energy and Williams Energy joined the event’s more than 40 corporate sponsors, prompting local opponents of drilling for gas in the Marcellus Shale to stage a protest on the Pierce Street Bridge.

Organized by Don Williams, a Wilkes-Barre native who now lives in Montgomery County, the protest drew supporters from Luzerne County’s Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, Concerned Harding Area Residents and the Luzerne County Green Party.

“The Susquehanna River has been named one of the most endangered rivers in the country specifically because of gas drilling, so we want to make people aware of the contradiction,” Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition President Tom Jiunta said.

About 20 held signs on the bridge at about 2 p.m., though protesters said as many as 50 had attended throughout the day.

Williams noted that the activists were not protesting RiverFest, but the contributions its organizers took.

Maday said it is the protesters’ right to protest, and that he supports their right to make their voices heard.

Events today RiverFest continues today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a kayak sojourn from Wilkes-Barre to Hunlock Creek, fishing and the highlight of this year’s RiverFest, dragon boat races.

New Date for Riverfest 2023 Announced

Riverfest 2023 is now August 12th and 13th! Join us for a day of food, entertainment, and activities in Nesbitt Park at Riverfest! Live Music, Children’s Scavenger Hunt,...

Volunteers Needed for Riverfest 2023 – August 12 and 13!

Volunteers Needed! Volunteer with us on August 12th and/or 13th at Riverfest! Help is needed with set up, parking, and more. All volunteers will receive a free T-shirt....

RIVERFEST POSTPONED!

Due to forecasted storms this weekend (all three days), including lightning, heavy rain, and wind, in the interest of public safety, the Riverfront Parks Committee is cancelling RiverFest....