By Kayla Anderson
MCIN
On Saturday, September 23, locals and visitors are invited to attend the Walker Lake Rehydration Celebration taking place at Monument Beach across from The Bighorn Crossing from 8 a.m. to noon. The event will include a Firehouse Breakfast, free canoe tours (weather permitting), free beach activities for all ages, a special ceremony, and a raffle.
The purpose of the Walker Lake Rehydration Celebration is to share information and history about the lake and acknowledge the entities who are helping to save it.
“Six or eight months ago I started going to the Walker Lake Working Group and Walker Lake Advisory Board meetings, and we started talking about how high the lake levels are and how we’ve started seeing more campers out there and talked about how to get more people out there,” says Walker Lake Resident and Event Co-Organizer Penny Tator.
“We came up with this event and it started to grow legs; and we think it could have a pretty good-sized turnout,” she adds.
Tator moved to Walker Lake in May of last year, and said it was the perfect time to come before the big 2022/23 winter season.
“The lake was in a drought last year but now I’ve been kayaking a lot. It’s much nicer this year with the lake being up,” Tator says.
Walker Lake’s volunteer fire department puts on a breakfast for the community every month so that will kick off the Rehydration Celebration at 8am. The breakfast will cost money (probably around $10-$13 per person) and is likely to include pancakes, biscuits and gravy, eggs, and breakfast meats.
Then around 9 or 9:30 a.m., guided canoe tours will be offered unless it’s too windy then they will be replaced with nature walks. Four canoes will be provided along with personal flotation devices and people are welcome to bring their own kayaks, canoes, and standup paddleboards. The half-hour tours will include points of interest, and the tours will be followed by the rehydration ceremony.
“It will be a symbolic ceremony celebrating how full Walker Lake is. People are invited to bring their own bottles of water and we will have barrels of water from other parts of the reservoir along with cups for people to pour water back into the lake,” Tator smiles. Speakers and representatives from the Walker Lake Working Group, Walker Lake Advisory Board, and Walker Basin Conservancy will also be in attendance to talk about the bird population, fish, and history of the lake. Tator and her co-organizer Nancy Hadlock are also talking to the Walker River Paiute Tribe about being involved.
The Bighorn Crossing also just reopened, and its owners have offered items for the raffle and are helping to promote it. There will be activities on the beach such as kite flying (if it’s windy enough), rock painting, artwork by a local artist, and a tug-of-war contest.
“The only thing that costs money right now is the food and the raffle,” Tator says.
The Walker Lake Rehydration Celebration appreciates any support in anyone who wants to contribute to the raffle, funds for the event, or volunteers who can help on September 23. If you are interested in being a part of the Rehydration Celebration, contact Penny Tator at (408) 476-5152 or Nancy Hadlock at (760) 258-6574 for more information.
