River Festival Wichita

This 10-day event, founded 28 years ago, has not only survived, but prospered. It features more than 100 events, including live entertainment, cook-offs, a fishing derby, and canoe, automobile, and bathtub races. A mainstay of the Festival since 1976 is the Saturday morning raft race in which decorated rafts float down the winding Arkansas River, their occupants spraying the many spectators on the banks with river water. Festivities are concluded by the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and fireworks over the Arkansas River.

Wichita River Festival hotel accommodations are available at the Scotsman Inn West hotel.

First held in 1972, the festival is an outgrowth of the 1970 Wichita Centennial Celebration. The Wichita River Festival, draws a quarter of a million visitors and citizens together every May. The Festival entertains spectators with parades, music, fireworks, athletic contests, and food. It begins with a parade in which half the city participates and the other half watches. It ends with the Twilight Pops Concert featuring the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, a heart-stopping fly-over of military jet aircraft, climaxing in a magnificent fireworks display.

Have you ever seen a bathtub race or a dinosaur raft? If you are in Wichita, Kansas, during the River Festival in May, you will have your chance. Every year Wichita celebrates with a 10-day-long party, which was first held in 1972. In addition to the raft and bathtub events, the festival features live entertainment, cook-offs, and a fishing derby. The Antique Bathtub Race, an event that is even recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records, features antique tubs, mounted on flotation platforms, all racing across water for the top trophy -- a gold-plated bathtub.

During the Saturday morning raft race, decorated rafts float down the winding Arkansas River, their occupants spraying the spectators with river water. Besides the dinosaur raft, there have been race car rafts, a Snoopy raft and a Dumbo raft. If you were to enter a rafting contest, what would your raft look like?

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