Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The 86th annual Northwest Water Carnival gets underway tonight in Detroit Lakes and the 10-day summer festival has a handful of new events this year.
Garrett Malstrom, co-admiral for the Water Carnival, said Family Day on Sunday, July 16 will feature a bring-your-own-t-shirt tie-dye event and a Lego building contest geared toward younger builders, but older adults will still be able to compete in the 19-plus age category.
“It’s BYOT, so bring your own (t-shirt) tie-dye,” said Malstrom. “All the kids bring t-shirts and she tie-dyes them and it’s a really fun experience.”
The tie-dye event begins at 11 a.m. in City Park on Sunday and registration for the Lego building competition begins at 12:45 p.m. at The Pavilion with judging scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.
Also on Sunday, lakes area kids will be telling, quote, “dad jokes” at the City Park Bandshell beginning at 1 p.m.
Another new addition is a youth dock fishing derby that will be held on Saturday, July 22 at 9:30 a.m. near the El Loro public pier on City Beach in Detroit Lakes.
Event organizers encourage kids to bring their own fishing poles, but they will have some to use on-site. Organizers will also have some tackle available to use and will supply bait to the youth fisherman.
Prizes will be award to anglers who catch the largest panfish, bass, walleye and northern pike.
Malstrom also said they have a new raffle prize twist for the festival’s annual demolition derby, which will get underway on Saturday, July 15.
“During the demo derby, we’ll have a raffle car,” said Malstrom. “So you can pay $20, it’s kind of like a raffle thing, and the winner gets to pick somebody to go in this car and it’s like a wild card in the finals.”
The 10-day festival culminates during the event’s second weekend with Everclear and Craig Morgan headlining the Jaycee’s Bash on the Beach on July 21-22 with the annual Parade of the Northwest stepping off on Washington Avenue at 1 p.m. on July 23.
