The annual Northern Indiana Lakes Festival is Saturday and Sunday at Center Lake Park in downtown Warsaw. The Lakes Festival is a full weekend event, complete with entertainment, educational workshops and recreational activities at Center Lake, according to a press release from the Center for Lakes & Streams at Grace College. The Lakes Festival is an annual celebration of the local lakes and waterways. The 2016 festival will include such events as the Crawfish Adventure Race, the first annual Paddle Wars, a duck-calling competition, concerts, Sunday ski show and the first-ever fireworks show over Center Lake on Saturday. On Saturday, Circle City Sidewalk Stompers, a clown band which has performed at Pacers games and internationally in France and China, will perform at 1:30 and 4 p.m. Indianapolis steel drum band Island Breeze will perform at 7:30 p.m. Festival admission is free and other activities include a swim race, kayaks for kids, food vendors, water show, a live animal show, petting farm, open swimming, kids’ activities, exhibitors and prizes and giveaways. Registration is still open for the Crawfish Adventure Race, presented by Metger’s Outdoors, and Paddle Wars, presented by P4C Paddlers for Conservation. The Crawfish Adventure Race will feature water-related activities on Center Lake. Paddle Wars is an event in which two canoes are tied together, stern-to-stern, and compete in a tug-of-war. Winners of Paddle Wars will receive a $200 cash prize. To register for these events, visit lakesfestival.org This year’s top sponsors include Zimmer Biomet, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Kosciusko County Convention, Recreation and Visitor Commission, DePuy Synthes, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Maple Leaf Farms and Silveus Insurance Group. The Center for Lakes & Streams at Grace College conducts applicable research, engages and educates residents, and collaborates with other organizations in efforts to make the lakes and streams of Kosciusko County cleaner, the release states. For more information or to support its efforts, visit lakes.grace.edu
