Lakes Festival A Success
Kosciusko Lakes and Streams, which is Grace College’s water research center, hosted the fifth annual Northern Indiana Lakes Festival over the weekend. The festival took place in Warsaw and Winona Lake Friday through Sunday, June 7-9.
“The lakes are vital to our economy, environment, recreation and our very sense of community. The Lakes Festival was able to celebrate this by creating opportunities to both experience and be educated about the lakes,” says Anna Burke, Lakes Festival coordinator and Kosciusko Lakes and Streams program manager.
Attendees participated in the numerous fun and educational events the festival offered. Children and adults alike learned how to keep lakes and streams clean from displays in the Lake Education area. There was also great participation in the Art Around the Lakes activities, Run for Others 5K, Warsaw Aqua Mile, and several new events associated with the festival. Favorite activities included the live animal show, canoeing and kayaking, bounce houses, 5,000 gallon aquarium, and the Lake City Skiers performance.
“We are so appreciative of the wonderful community members that helped us be successful this year; the sponsors, event organizers, volunteers, attendees, everyone.”
The event was made possible by the efforts of over 200 volunteers and over 100 community businesses and organizations.
Nate Bosch, director of Kosciusko Lakes and Streams and the Lakes Festival, says “We went from having about 2,000 attendees last year to over 4,000 this year. I’m excited that we involved more people in our community and hope that we can involve even more next year.”
The 2014 Lakes Festival will be June 14-15.
The Lakes Festival is organized by Kosciusko Lakes and Streams, a center for water research, education and collaboration at Grace College. Major sponsors for the Lakes Festival
included Toyota, Biomet, Zimmer, CenturyLink, Kosciusko County Community Foundation, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Silveus Insurance Group and Trupointe.
To learn more about KLAS, visit water.grace.edu.