The sun came out just in time on Sunday for Prince George to celebrate at the B.C. Rivers Day Music Festival.
The event's intention is simple - to provide Prince George citizens the opportunity to celebrate their river heritage, specifically the city's two major water ways, the Fraser and Nechako.
"All this is, is a recognition and celebration of living and working among the rivers of British Columbia because we have such a wonderful resource and today's culture are forgetting to celebrate these things," said Outdoor Recreation Council member Patti Gerhardi.
Several different activities for adults and children took place, all geared toward learning more about rivers and their importance.
The Prince George Search and Rescue crew were busy teaching kids how to properly throw a safety line into the water in case of emergency.
"We want to see people enjoying the rivers and using them in a safe manner. It's events like this that raise awareness about keeping the water systems healthy and that is huge for us," said Anthony Gagne, Prince George Search and Rescue.
Kids also got their hands dirty painting large fish that will be hung on a mural in front of the ministry of environment building at 18th and Ospika.
"These fish were cut out by the inmates at the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre, they are so generous with their time," said Gerhardi.
The event was intended to be a politically neutral afternoon with the concentration only on the water ways and how to keep them protected and clean.
"It's simply a celebration with no political agenda and we really encourage people not to have a political agenda but sometimes you lose control," said Gerhardi.
"It's about drinking and it's about fish. It's about wanting to celebrate so they aren't taken for granted then [people] will wind up doing things to it that will make it unhealthy," said acting mayor, Garth Frizell. "The Fraser River is something that connects us all together and that is something you can't overlook."
Scouts Canada was at the celebration to remind people that being environmentally aware is vital.
"One of the tenets of scouting is for environmental stewardship and a lot of our programs are based on environmental work where we are doing clean-up of streams and doing drain cleaning and painting the fish on the drains," said Elizabeth French, Scouts Canada area commissioner. "If we increase environmental awareness in our youth now we are going to carry that on as adults."
The events are co-ordinated by the Outdoor Recreation Council (ORC) and the success of the event in the province has led to the establishment of National Rivers Day.
The annual province-wide event, held on the last Sunday in September was established in 1980 and attracts more than 75,000 people to 100 events each year.
There were booths offering information from BC Hydro, Northwest Invasive Plant Council, Recycling and Environmental Action Planning Society, Spruce Wildlife Trust, Fraser Basin Council and the Northern Bear Aware.
The sounds of the Ken McCoy Band, Redgy Blackout and Marcel Gagnon were also featured.
