Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The 87th Northwest Water Carnival officially came to a close on Sunday.
The last weekend of the ten-day summer festival kicked off on Friday with Kegs and Eggs at The Pavilion in Detroit Lakes with the KFAN Power Trip Morning Show for Minneapolis entertaining the packed crowd with their Initials Game and friendly banter.
Born Too Late performs during the first night of Bash on the Beach on July 21, 2023, part of the 87th annual Northwest Water Carnival in Detroit Lakes. (Michael Achterling / KDLM News)
That evening, the focus turned to City Beach where 90s west coast rock ban Everclear took to the sand and played before about 500 screaming fans along Detroit Lake.
Everclear performs during the first night of Bash on the Beach on July 21, 2023, part of the 87th annual Northwest Water Carnival in Detroit Lakes. (Michael Achterling / KDLM News)
Art Alexakis of Everclear performs during the first night of Bash on the Beach on July 21, 2023, part of the 87th annual Northwest Water Carnival in Detroit Lakes. (Michael Achterling / KDLM News)
As Friday night’s concert was winding down, Kyle Pereira, co-admiral for the Water Carnival, said the Detroit Lakes Jaycees have done an amazing job putting on this year’s festival.
“We’re out here every night and we’re out here four hours before the event starts and three hours after it ends,” said Perreira. “We don’t got that many members, but we just do what we can.”
Navy Nagel, 4, of Fargo, gets a cheetah painted on her face during the 87th annual Northwest Water Carnival in Detroit Lakes on July 21, 2023. (Michael Achterling / KDLM News)
Kids play on an inflatable in City Park during the 87th annual Northwest Water Carnival in Detroit Lakes on July 21, 2023. (Michael Achterling / KDLM News)
Saturday’s featured events included a softball tournament, pet and kiddie parade and the resurgence of the Chili Cook-off, which teamed up with the Home Brew Tasting event at Bucks Mill Brewery at noon.
Less than one hour later, two crockpots of chili had been devoured and the home brewers from Dunn Didder, a partnership of two home brewers located south of Audubon, were running out of beer.
Tim Henrikson, one of the Dunn Didder’s brewers, said he and his brother-in-law, Jeff Svare have been brewing beer together for the last four or five years with the hopes of eventually opening their own brewery somewhere in the lakes area down the road. But until then, they hope to continue meeting homebrewers at these events and talking shop with them.
“We want more homebrewers to come out and do it,” said Henrikson. “More chili, more beer, sounds like a party.”
Only four chilis were entered into this year’s chili cookoff, but, at the rate they were consumed, Erika Martin, Jaycees event organizer for the chili cookoff, said the hope to expand the event next year.
“The chili cook-off used to be a big event at Water Carnival and there were a lot of people that came,” said Martin. “So, we need to get it advertised that we’re back and running because we had two years where we were not running, so we lost that momentum, so we need to just get it advertised.”
She also said they may need to beef up their condiment table next year since many on the toppings were gone in the first hour of the three-hour event, which seemed segway into the question: what makes the perfect chili?
“I do like a little bit of a heat,” she said. “And maybe we do need more condiments because the sour cream with a little bit of the heat goes hand-in-hand.”
Saturday night, Country star Craig Morgan took the sandy stage for night two of the Bash on the Beach.
And then, on Sunday, the cherry on top of the summer festival was the annual Parade of the Northwest, which featured lakes area fire departments and law enforcement, as well as, numerous floats from community organizations and businesses.
The El Zagal Shiners drive syncronized go-carts during the Parade of Northwest on July 23, 2023, part of the 87th annual Northwest Water Carnival in Detroit Lakes. (Zeke Fuhrman / KDLM News)
And yes, the El Zagal Shiners had their little go-carts dancing through one another along the parade route in perfect symmetry as the floats made their way down Washington Avenue to West Lake Drive.
