WichiTalk

In 1988, my husband of almost 20 years picked me up late on our way to the final fireworks show at the River Festival. I remember being upset with him for being late and worried that we would not find a good seat on the bank to watch the show. Later on he explained that there was a reason why he was late. When he pulled out the ring and proposed to me in front of everyone, I started to cry. He said he was out all afternoon trying to find the perfect ring and he was sorry he didn’t pick me up on time. I felt so bad for being upset at him and also so very happy. It was obviously my best River Festival moment ever.

Gaylee Aipperspach

I was 12 yrs old when the first River Festival took place. Growing up in Riverside, my friends and I were aware of everything happening in our area. We looked forward to concerts at the bandstand and boat races on the river, but were very excited when so many things were put together at once. We packed a picnic, rode our bikes and really had fun!

We have attended the river festival since it began years ago. This year my 14 year-old grandson came in 3rd in the 10K River Run. As we were “soaking in” all the runner’s enthusiasm, we met Mr. Wycik, Opera Symphony Conducter of Germany who will be conducting The Pirates of Penzance. He had just finished the run and asked me to take his picture and send it via email. Since we already had a ticket for this opera, were thrilled to make this connection!

My most exciting River Festival memories are a tie between two - the first is the Medallion Hunt - it was always fun. Occasionally, we were even close to it without realizing it. I have a vague memory that we even searched for it in the middle of the night. (This was way before our kids came along.)

My second most exciting memory is the
WICHITA EAGLE NEWSPAPER AIRPLANE CONTEST.
It was FUN FUN FUN! We asked relatives and friends for their copies of the newspapers/entries plus we bought a ton of extra newspapers ourselves so that we would have plenty of entry forms (paper airplanes).

How it worked: Entrants stood on the balcony of Century II and attempted to throw their paper airplanes through the sunroof of a car.

There were plastic blow up baby swimming pools around the car - if you flew your airplane into one of the pools, you won a different prize.

There were lots of prizes offered, everything from t-shirts (which we still have one from 1990 - it’s hot pink) to newsprint pattern umbrellas to all kinds of other merchandise.

My husband is an aircraft engineer and one year, he made the finals. His photo was in a suburban edition of THE WICHITA EAGLE that year.

I believe the last year it was held was 1990 because we had our second daughter that year and it was another Mother’s Day I spent down at the Paper Airplane Contest.

That baby daughter is graduating from high school this weekend.

Riverfest 2001 was the best for me. I had decided to run the 10k with my Dad who had been running this event every year for 20 years except 1 when he had by-pass surgery. This was my first time, and I thought I wouldn’t have too tough a time completing it. I had lost 35 lbs, been training for 4 months, yea - I had it all figured out. HA! I finished the race - dead last, but I did finish. Dad had finished long before me, came back to find me and then ran and finished again with me! Of course he told me, “don’t feel too bad honey, the 90-yr. old only beat you by 15 minutes! Later Dad called me to see how was doing and I explained that I would barely move! He told me he felt pretty good and had just finished mowing the yard. That year - I was 47 and Dad was 80! But it was great sharing that experience with him. Something I’ll never forget.