Cool Down In Logandale Park

By ARIANNA KNIGHTON

The Progress

It was an all-out battleground at the Logandale Park on Saturday evening, July 23. It was brother against brother; neighbor against neighbor; friend against friend.

About 100 people attended the second annual community-wide water balloon fight organized by local residents Bernie and Priscilla Conrique. The couple also owns Kuppa Joe coffee shop in Overton and Bernie is the Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce President.

“We just wanted to create a way to bring the community together to have some fun in the heat of summer,” said Bernie. “It is pretty informal. I posted the event (on social media) two weeks prior. And I bought a couple thousand water balloons while others brought what they could.”

That turned out to be an understatement. People showed up to the battle armed to the hilt with water balloons.
Moapa Valley residents Deirdre Woodrow and Adam Waxman showed up with the bed of their Dodge Ram lined with tarps and filled with more than 2300 baloons floating in a pool of water.

The Woods family came all the way from Virgin Valley towing a trailer with a huge plastic water trough filled with about 4300 balloons. They were experienced water balloon warriors as they have participated in the notorious Bunkerville July 4th water fight for several years now.
“In Bunkerville, this is really not that many balloons,” said Cameron Woods. “They get really crazy over there.”

The first community-wide water fight organized by the Conriques was held last summer in the Overton Park when pandemic restrictions were still on. It was planned as a way to bring the community together outdoors, to satisfy those restrictions, but to avoid the heat of summer. It was a great success.

This year’s event added some key new developments. Chief among these was the presence of the Moapa Valley Fire District. Overton Station #74 brought three firefighting vehicles with tanks filled with a total of around 5,000 gallons of water. They emptied their tanks spraying down the crowd while the water balloon battle was ongoing.

“It’s always great to come out and get involved with the community. Show them support and they show us support. It’s really nice because it’s hot, the kids like the water, and we can use our hoses to cool them down.”

Deep in the fray of the battle was Metro officer Dominic Drosos. He ably fended off incoming balloons with his riot shield while firing balloons of his own into the crowd.
“I usually participate in the trunk or treat every year,” Drosos said. “Then last year they held this event in Overton, and I came down and did the same thing. I think from the second year of doing this it has grown quite a bit. Seems like it has doubled in people here we just need to get the word out.”

Shortly after this interview Officer Drosos was rushed by a crowd of youngsters and defeated in battle.
The battle went on for around an hour nonstop. After accepting defeat, Drosos started handing out popsicles to the crowd.

The firefighters were still going strong, though, with their superior firepower. They found a new defense tactic. All together they would soak the trees with their firehoses. This left water dripping like rain on the home bases of the enemies.

Jenni Tobiasson and her family were having a private party in the park pavilion that night. But when the battle began, they joined in the fun as well.
“We rented the park a couple weeks ago to just hangout,” Tobiasson said. “Then today we found out about this, and it has been very eventful. I think it’s fun that everyone is able to come out and have good times.”

Eventually, folks started running out of water balloons and the tanks in the firetrucks went empty. Having survived the onslaught, families started packing up and heading home.

Young Olive and Ivy Asay attended the event with their mom and dad, Taylor and Judd Asay.
“My favorite part of today was getting to play with my mom,” said Olive while returning to the family car with her clothes dripping with water. “I want to come back next year!”
“I liked getting wet from the fire hoses and the water balloons,” added Ivy. “Next year I think they should add puddles of water on the ground.”