Riverfest winners and royalty
Published 3:51 pm Sunday, August 4, 2013
The Dragon’s Wake team, pictured here, won the Dragon Boat races Saturday at Niles Riverfest. Photo by Joe Weiser
New royalty was crowned, a Dragon Boat team left everyone in its wake and hundreds of families celebrated the St. Joseph River during the Niles Riverfest over the weekend.
Except for some rain Friday, the annual Niles festival was blessed with sunny skies and good weather at Riverfront Park in downtown Niles.
Mr. & Mrs. Riverfest, Nick and Sarah Brittin; Miss Niles, Monica Bielski; Mr. Niles’ Ryan Roberts and Alex Gamso. Submitted photo
On Thursday, Nick and Sarah Brittin were crowned Mr. and Mrs. Riverfest at the Riverfront Amphitheater. The Brittins own Pizza Transit, a popular pizza restaurant on Main Street in downtown Niles. Miss and Mr. Niles had the honor of crowing the Brittins during the event, which was sponsored by the Niles-Buchanan YMCA. Lacey Weimuth-Peters, former Miss Niles 2005, chaired the event.
The Dragon Boat race, which took place Saturday, was a close one. The teams Dragon’s Wake and Leader Publications advanced the finals after finishing with the top two times during the morning’s heat races. Dragon’s Wake edged out Leader Publications by nearly two seconds in the final race — 1:34.78 to 1:36.04.
Dragon Boat Race Results
Heat Races
Finish/Team Avg. Time
1. Dragon’s Wake 1:35.53
2. Leader Publications 1:37.06
3. World Dragons 1:38.09
4. N-B YMCA 1:39.62
5. Majerek’s Mottley Crew 1:40.66
6. NHS Band/Community Team 1:41.88
Finals
1. Dragon’s Wake 1:34.78
2. Leader Publications 1:36.04
