Whitewater festival has a long history

Paddlers took to the Swan River this weekend for the 40th anniversary of the Bigfork Whitewater Festival.

In 1976, Cliff Persons of Whitefish and several other boaters had been coming down to Bigfork to paddle the Swan after work. When they finished, they stopped by the Mountain Lake Tavern for some beers.

The group had recently begun attending competitions around the state and they were telling Mountain Lake Tavern owner Fritz Groenke about it the competitions. Groenke asked how many people they thought would come to the Swan for such an event.

Persons said they told him, maybe 20. Groenke offered to put up $100 for prize money, and the Bigfork Whitewater Festival was born.

“It was us seven, and seven more showed up,” Persons said of the first race.

Though the race was small Persons said there will still about 80 of spectators at that first race.

“A lot of the locals came out and supported us and wanted to watch,” he said.

The race continued and began to grow as years went by, and more paddlers began to come run the Swan.

Eventually the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce began helping to organize the race, which helped improve the timing, Persons said.

At the event’s peak in the early 1990s it drew nearly 200 boaters.

“They’d show up from all over the place,” Persons said.

For a while the festival was part of the Kayaking Pro Circuit but hasn’t been included since 1999. It is now part of the Western Whitewater Championship Series, and still draws paddlers from all over the world.

The Wild Mile stretch of the Swan where the race is run, was originally called the “Mad Mile” but was changed in 1992 by festival organizers.

Persons said the sport has also changed a lot since that first race, particularly the equipment.

When the festival started persons said their boats were about 13 feet long, and made of fiberglass. On almost every run they would collide with a rock, and crack their boats.

“You’d hit the rock with them, and it would always break the tip off, or put a hole in the side,” Persons said. They would take the banged up boats home, patch them, then come back and run the river again.

Now the boats are much smaller and made out of more durable plastics, and are better suited to taking a beating against the rocks.

Persons also said they didn’t used to run the river down the middle, avoiding what paddlers call the big drop.

“Finally one of the guys from Missoula, Sean McAdams came up and ran it right down the middle, and showed us it could be done,” Persons said.

McAdams won the race that first year at age 18.

Persons stayed involved with the race until 1988, when he started to have back problems that made it hard to sit in a kayak. 

He said kayaking is one of the most enjoyable things he’s ever done. He used to work on Big Mountain and was an avid skier.

“When I started kayaking, I enjoyed kayaking even more,” he said. “I’ve always wondered why every body didn’t kayak.”

In its 40th year the Whitewater Festival is still going strong. The weekend of boating now features kayaking, rafting and stand up paddleboarding. A triathlon sponsored by the Kalispell Athletic Club is also now part of the weekend festivities.

“I’m glad the race is still going,” Persons said. “As long as some kayakers are willing to keep the work in it will keep going. It is a fun thing I think, even the spectators enjoy it.”