LEWISTOWN - Despite seasonably hot temperatures on Saturday area residents and visitors came in droves to celebrate America's independence in downtown Lewistown during the Sixth Annual Juniata RiverFest, held at Victory Park and other locations along the river.
One of the festival's first events - and a fine way to keep cool - was the annual Raft Regatta, where teams competed to see who could paddle their home-made floats down river the fastest, among other honors. Twenty-three teams entered floats this year, launching from the Waterside Campground and RV Park in Lewistown.
The participants were in good spirits leading up the launch, loudly proclaiming their various strategies for winning out over the competition.
"We've got a water cannon and an air-horn that'll blow anybody away," said Ryan Manning, of Lewistown, who was with the Skip's Contracting float, "North Pole."
Cole Middaugh, with the "Pirates of the Juniata" float, also pointed to his float's "cannons"- noting "there's a pirate on the front of it."
Lewistown resident Pam Kightlinger, along with family, friends and employees from Creekside Hearth and Patio, discussed the planning and thought that went into constructing their "Castaway" float - built, naturally, around the Tom Hanks film "Castaway." The float included numerous props related to the film, such as piles of FedEx boxes, a model of the plane that crashed in the film, and "Wilson", the volleyball that Hanks' character makes his friend.
The "Castaway" later won the Regatta Queen award, for the "most spectacular or prettiest-looking" float.
The Regatta's first-place finisher and winner of the "Juniata River Otter" award was the "Bike Lightning" float, captained by John Youtzy; other winners included the "Waterfront" - no relation to the Tavern - whose more-than-20-strong crew won the Team Spirit Award, and the farm-themed "Hee Haw Hoedown" float, which won the Titanic "Most Likely to Sink" Award.
The other big event of the day was RiverFEST Idol, a singing competition for 10 participants who made it through two previous audition sessions.
Hosted by Media X Creative's Ryan Russler and MERF Radio's Jeff Stevens, the contest showcased local performers as well as others who came from State College and as far away as New Holland.
With the arrangement of competitors split between nine women and one man, the song list leaned decisively toward "hear me roar" anthems-from State College resident Kasi Damiano's "Paris (Oh La La)" (Grade Potter and the Nocturnals) to Lewistown resident Marissa Slater's "Before He Cheats" (Carrie Underwood), to Reedsville resident Michaela Wagner's "King of Anything" (Sara Bareilles).
There also was a welcome-back feeling with Yeagertown's Heather Giardino, a well-known participant who returned after a five-year hiatus to sing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."
"I try to put emotion into everything I do and to let people feel what I'm feeling ... and that's the biggest rush of all, when people get what I'm doing," Giardino said.
Giardino eventually won second place in the competition, with Damiano winning third.
First place went to the contest's lone male performer, Boalsburg resident Jeff Boob, with his rendition of the Neon Trees rocker, "Animal."
Boob noted afterward that, in fact, he had been brought to the competition by third-place winner Damiano-who had done the contest before with a cousin who had won first place.
"We gotta' keep it in the circle now," laughed Boob.
The RiverFEST also held a 5K River Rampage run, for which 92 runners signed up this year.
And aside from the events, there were, of course, the lines upon lines of games, food, and shops-including crabcakes, lemonade, Sombrero Toss, Cactus Taters, Whitehall Stitches, Celtic Designers, "Conk the Crow," Penn State Creamery Ice Cream and more.
Even with the heat, the mood among the attendees was festive as they came out for the food, the river and the races-and, naturally, the community.
"You know what the best part is?", asked an older woman wearing a blue-and-white-colored Mohawk wig (which were very popular in the crowd). "Walking around and running into people you haven't seen in forever!" When asked who she'd seen so far that she knew, a friend nearby responded, "All of them!"
The days events were concluded with a spectacular fireworks display just after dusk.
The Juniata River Valley Visitors Bureau website describes RiverFEST as "a free event that will bring together residents and non-residents of all socio-economic backgrounds, while exposing them to the many different types of art surrounding the river." Proceeds from previous RiverFESTs helped to pay for Victory Park's veterans mural, which was dedicated during the 5th anual RiverFEST in 2010.
