2009

Twin Lakes Water Festival

Morris County

Conservation District

Council Grove, KS

2009 Twin Lakes Festival makes headlines!!!!

This year's Water Festval was a wonderful experience. All participants seemed to have a good time. But sadness hung over this year's festival. Due to lack of sponsorship we will not be having the festival next year. A wonderful opportunity to teach children about conservation will be lost.

Photos are courtesy of Dara Lowry, Leonard and JoBea Titus.

Click on first image to view slide show.

Fifth graders learn about

water at

Council Grove Festival

By Shandi Dix

STAFF WRITER

Water, water, water everywhere! More than 1,100 students from 28 schools, 55 classes and six counties attended the fifth annual Twin Lakes Water Festival Sept. 17 at Canning Creek Cove at Council Grove Lake. The festival is to educate the public on local water issues and to create awareness of resources.

All Geary County Schools attended the festival. The event was open to all fifth grade students. Students were divided up by their classes to attend 25-minute long stations where they learned about natural

resources. A majority of the stations were tied to Kansas Core Curricular Standards and were hands-on and interactive. “I think they gain an awareness of certain aspects of why water is important

and why it’s important to conserve and how to use water appropriately,” said Kent Burnham, a fifth-grade teacher at

Jefferson Elementary School. Tyler Behrens, a fifth-grader from Jefferson Elementary said his favorite part was learning about the wetlands. “We learned about why wetlands are important and what wetlands are made of,” he said.

Giovanni Hamanaka, also a fifthgrader at Jefferson, liked learning how animals eat at the Graze Like a Cow demonstration.

This year’s festival brought 128 presenters from various agencies and organizations across the state. Northern Heights High School Science Club was among the presenters.

One station mimicked the CBS show “CSI.” Students were to find out what the animal was, how it died and what it died from. Teams played different roles from the show. Some high school students

played the key witnesses.

Another station was an activity the students could take home. They rolled a die to build a bracelet that represented the movement of water.

A herpetology, the study of reptiles and amphibians, demonstration was provided by the Public Works Environmental Division from Fort Riley. Megan Friedrichs, a biological technician, was the presenter. A wildfire demonstration was presented by the Fort Riley Forrester

and Wildland Department.

In preparation for the event, 10 Soldiers of the 1st Battalion 34th Armor Regiment from Fort Riley provided much needed man power.

“They pounded posts, they drug tables around for us, they helped put everything up,” said Katie Miller, the festival’s organizer. “What they did in about two and a half hours usually takes me and five others two-and-a-half days to do. These guys are efficient. They

were fantastic. They helped with my stress levels tremendously. They got it done for us.”

The day of the festival 20 Soldiers provided security, directed traffic,

helped with registration and security at the gate and assisted

presenters. “They’re not in uniform,” Miller said. “They’re wearing white festival T-shirts. So they are all matching but they’re the only ones wearing white Twin Lake Water Festival T-shirts.” Following the festival the Soldiers moved tables back and tore down decorations. “This has been a huge help for us,” Miller said. “I’m very excited that we’ve been able to do this. I wish we’d had it all five years but I’m glad we’re doing it this year if nothing else.”

Capt. Daniel Sjursen, assistant operations officer, said that the Soldiers helping at the festival is part of the Adopt-a-Community Project. They also have helped with security during the Wah-Shun-Gah Days events as well.

Each student received a backpack with two snacks and other items represented by their themed park.

Prior to coming to the festival all classes were given a piece of canvas to create a banner. The entrance to each park had displays of the banners made by the classes in that park. One banner was picked as the winner and that class will receive a pizza party sponsored by the Twin Lakes Water Festival. The classes didn’t know who won until they arrived at the festival.