The Lake City Skiers perform for an audience in this file photo. The Warsaw-based organization will host the NSSA Central Region Tournament on July 14-15 at Hidden Lake. (File photo)

WARSAW — Flooding in the upper Midwest has forced a change of venue at the Central Region Show Ski Tournament, but the original site’s loss will become Warsaw’s gain.

The decision to move the National Show Ski Association tournament, which will feature a total of seven teams from across five states as well as numerous individuals from the region, was made late last night due to unsafe conditions at the originally-planned site on Rock River in Rock Island, Ill. The tournament will now take place at the home of Warsaw’s own Lake City Skiers at Hidden Lake on Saturday and Sunday, July 14-15.

“They’ve had quite a bit of rain in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois there. The Rock River, there’s about three or four teams that ski on that river, and they’ve all had to shut their sites down in the last couple weeks,” explained Lake City Skiers Vice President Chuck McLaughlin.

“The (original host) Backwater Gamblers’ board of directors met earlier this week and decided it was not a safe condition with the flood levels and the current, to host the tournament. They notified the… Central Region Show Ski Association, and then last night the options were either to move it to Rockford, Ill. or to Warsaw. Through a conference call with the central region board, they discussed it and decided Rockford is still on Rock River, so let’s go to Warsaw.”

The tournament is expected to bring in roughly $200,000 to the area in hotel, food and gas costs to visiting skiers, and as well as being a boon to Kosciusko County tourism, should help give a little added exposure to the Lake City Skiers, who have hosted large events like these in the past, including the City of Lakes Invitational back in mid-June. Serving as hosts will require extra work on the part of his team, says McLaughlin, but it’ll be nice to compete in their own backyard.

“We are a tourist attraction for Kosciusko County, so it’s always good if we can draw attention to Warsaw and the community. It does help with our team as far as getting our name out there to get more people informed of what we’re doing and then we have our shows and get people out to the shows, too,” said McLaughlin.

“It’s nice for our membership, one, because it saves them a lot of out-of-pocket expense with the travel — hotel rooms and everything — plus, as far as the skiers, yes, it’s more work hosting the tournament, but at least you get to go to your own house and your own bed and get a good night’s sleep, rather than staying in a hotel somewhere before competition. That’s always a nice thing.”

The Lake City Skiers are Indiana’s only competitive water ski show team and a four-time NSSA Division II national champion. They made the move to the NSSA’s top division just three years ago and will be competing at regional for a spot at the Division I nationals in Janeville, Wisc., in August. The regional tourney will open with individual competition at 8 a.m. July 14, and the first teams will compete — beginning with the hosts — once the individual competition is completed at approximately 11 a.m. The remaining teams will perform beginning at 8 a.m. July 15, with awards to follow. Cost is free to attend, and McLaughlin encourages spectators to come out and see some of the best water skiers in the nation.

“People should really come out and watch the tournament. It’s free to the public; anybody can come out,” he said. “We have plenty of bleacher seating out there, and two of the teams that will be competing have previously won the Division I nationals, so they put on a really, really good show. It’s really fun to watch.”