By Steve Weisman

There is little doubt that the Okoboji Blue Water Festival is the signature clean water event. Each year just seems to offer more and raise the bar as a daylong celebration to raise public awareness of water quality issues in the Iowa Great Lakes and across the state. It’s all about protecting and enhancing the water quality of our lakes, rivers and wetlands.

Saturday, August 10 will be the fourth annual event, and the lid has been blown off. Listed below is the tentative schedule, but as Greg Drees, event founder and coordinator, says, “We have so many tremendous activities scheduled, that we want to make sure we give appropriate time for everybody, so times might be subject to change.”

As always, chalk stock artists will start early Saturday morning:

8 a.m.              Local artists will turn the Plaza sidewalk into colorful clean-water themed murals

10-3                 Exhibitor’s row of nearly 40 clean water organizations and businesses will line the sidewalk on the north side of Preservation Plaza to share their expertise about implementing clean water practices

10-3                 Kids’ and family activities (all having to do with clean water, watersheds, etc.

Throughout the day, there will be several key events happening. “As we get closer to August 10, we will release specific times for each event. We want to make certain that everything meshes smoothly,” says Drees.

Listed below are the key events:

• Fishing Seminar with Dan Spengler, Berkley Senior Bait Development Engineer “Seeing is Believing”
• Shoreline and bank stabilization panel
• Tiger Lion Arts (touring group) presents “Nature,” the story of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
• Keynote Speaker – Alexandra Cousteau, globally known water quality advocate

The musical celebration that evening offers something for everybody:

6:30                 The Firm

7:30                 Dave Mason

9:30                 Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers

Drees cannot control his excitement for the 2019 Okoboji Blue Water Festival. “We continue with our ongoing goal of raising public awareness of water quality issues in the Iowa Great Lakes and across Iowa. It’s truly about protecting and enhancing the water quality of our lakes, rivers and wetlands. Without clean water we have nothing. I think you will agree, this is the greatest day-long lineup yet!”

Something really exciting for this year will be the appearance of Tiger Lion Arts. Drees says, “It’s a traveling troupe of actors and they will walk down through the heart of the green space performing a play called “Nature”. It’s a story of Ralph Waldo Emmerson and Henry David Thoreau. It’s really cool. The kids, well people of all ages are really going to enjoy this walking play. In the middle of the whole performance they will customize it, talking about the Iowa Great Lakes and how important it is to protect West Lake and our entire chain of glacial lakes.”

As for the fishing seminar, it will be located under the Big Tent at the northeast corner of Preservation Plaza, this year’s seminar can best be described as “Seeing is Believing!”

Dan Spengler, senior bait development engineer for Pure Fishing will offer insight into the development process for Berkley hardbaits and terminal tackle such as jigs and how they are paired with Berkley’s soft baits. The seminar will provide information on product design, prototyping, lab and field testing, in addition to final product release to the anglers. Following the seminar, Spengler will invite those in attendance to join him at the dock on the shores of West Okoboji where he will offer presentation demonstrations for a variety Berkley lures.

One of Spengler’s goals is to help those in attendance understand the hardbait design process. “First, I will give a little background about how I got into the industry. It’s hard to believe but since I was hired, I’ve worked directly on over 70 Berkley hardbaits. Just last year, we designed, developed and released over 20 hardbaits alone.”

These will be Spengler’s seminar topics:

• Discuss behind-the-scenes steps in the concept and design process.
• Shape development and prototype testing in the lab. During this process, top pro anglers are brought in for their input.
• Field testing, taking the hardbait to the water. Testing in a variety of locations to determine if the product is right. Here, it all comes down to letting the fish tell the engineers if it is ready for market or not.
• Discuss terminal tackle such as jigs and how they are paired with Berkley’s soft baits.
• Seeing is believing! The final portion will be a how-to seminar, where Spengler will provide actual on-the-water casting techniques for fishing his favorite Berkley products.

Spengler with a big nighttime walleye taken on a Berkley Shallow Cutter 90. (photo submitted)

“I am really looking forward to this opportunity. I hope that a lot of kids will

attend. One of my life-long goals is to get as many kids interested in the sport of fishing as possible,” adds Spengler.

Each year Drees has organized panels to discuss and debate a wide range of clean water topics. This year’s panel will be local authorities talking about shoreline and bank stabilization tactics. “Last year’s flooding really brought this problem home to us here on the Iowa Great Lakes area. A lot of bank erosion occurred. This goal of this panel is to help give answers and solutions to erosion issues.”

(submitted) Highlighting the day’s events will be the keynote address by Alexandra Cousteau, globally known water quality advocate and granddaughter of famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.

Highlighting the day’s events will be the keynote address by Alexandra Cousteau, globally known water quality advocate and granddaughter of famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. Drees notes, ““This is a coup for the festival. Alexandra’s mission fits our event’s focus perfectly. I know she will deliver a passionate speech. Anyone interested in water quality issues will not want to miss this.” Cousteau is an award-winning filmmaker, National Geographic Explorer, and global water advocate. She continues the work of her renowned grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau and her father Philippe Cousteau Sr. by helping people throughout the world explore and value their everyday connections with our water planet.

The finale: celebrating with music

The signature clean water event in the Iowa Great Lakes this summer will culminate with another prestigious musical concert. It all kicks off with The Firm, followed by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Dave Mason. The anticipation will build throughout the evening until 9:30, when Legendary singer-songwriter Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers.

“What a way to end this celebratory day,” says Drees. “We have delivered quality musical acts each year to the festival and bringing these outstanding artists to our stage this year will continue that commitment to excellence. Mason hit scene in the ‘60s with Traffic and has enjoyed a phenomenal career over the decades. These dudes can certainly bring it. As for Hornsby, he has endured through the years as a first flight songwriter and musician. He and his full-band will fill the green space with memorable music.”

What a musical history Hornsby has established. His work displays a creative iconoclasm that’s been a constant in the artist’s two-and-a-half decade recording career. His commercial stock soared early on, when “The Way It Is” — the title track of his 1986 debut album — became one of the most popular songs on American radio. Despite his early mainstream successes, Hornsby has pursued a more personal, idiosyncratic musical path, focusing on projects that sparked his creative interest, including collaborations with the Grateful Dead, Spike Lee, Ricky Skaggs, Don Henley, Ornette Coleman, Bob Dylan, Bela Fleck, Justin Vernon, Bonnie Raitt, Pat Metheny and Robbie Robertson. Hornsby’s performance will offer a glimpse of a restless spirit who continues to push forward into exciting new musical terrain.

It’s no wonder Drees is so excited for the 2019 Okoboji Blue Water Festival. “I want to thank all of the individuals and businesses that have donated so generously to help us put together this great lineup. None of this could happen without their support. We will share more about the day’s activities over the next few months.”