Lake City Skiers present "America's 250th Celebration on Water," a patriotic-themed water ski show
WARSAW, Ind. -- On Sunday, June 7, the Lake City Skiers presented "America's 250th Celebration on Water," a patriotic-themed water ski show at Hidden Lake in Warsaw, Indiana.
A pre-show began at 5:45 p.m., followed by the main performance at 6:30 p.m., which was an hour long. The show took place at Hidden Lake, a 24-acre spring-fed private lake near the intersection of US 30 and State Road 15. The free event offered bleacher seating for roughly 1,500 spectators, additional lawn-chair seating, concessions, and free parking.
The performance connected the team's themed summer show to the nationwide observance of America's 250th birthday and coincided with the Kosciusko County Freedom Fest weekend marking the milestone. The hour-long production featured extreme jumps, barefoot skiing, swivel skiing, an all-girl ballet line, doubles routines, and human pyramids, set to music and costumes and guided by a live announcer.
Established in 1989, the Lake City Skiers are Indiana's only competitive water ski show team with more than 160 members and roughly 70 active skiers ranging in age from 6 to over 50. The team has won Division II Show Ski Nationals four times — in 2006, 2007, 2014, and 2016 — and was recently honored by the National Show Ski Association with the President's Award, as well as named Best Event Host two years running at The Ski Show Podcast Awards.
In 2027, the team and the city of Warsaw will host the IWWF World Water Ski Show Championship at Hidden Lake on September 15–19, overseen by the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation. It will be the first international sporting event held at the site and the first hosted by the city of Warsaw and is expected to draw teams from around the world along with significant tourism and economic activity for Kosciusko County.
Christy Walters, a resident of Warsaw, watched the show with her family "Man, 250th I can't believe that we are celebrating this historic moment in our country. 250 years of being free, but we recognize as a family, we come out and celebrate this because we know that people are free at a cost. So, some people sacrifice their lives for us, and we want to honor them. And so, we celebrate the USA. Now, being on the water, double fun. It's really great to be here. I think everybody enjoys a good show that celebrates America.
I really enjoy when they do the flips, when they do the big pyramid, a lot of times these guys have just some really creative moves on the water. Man, I grew up water skiing, but I never did anything like this, so it's really fun to see their skill and their technique come out."
Steve Hawblitzel, a founding member of the team and co-director of the production, explained more about what they do, "Most people, when they think professional water skiing, tournament water skiing, they envision people going around buoys, they envision people jumping for distance, maybe trick ski flips out here. What you're seeing is a full-blown theatric production on water.
And finally, Marley, one of the young water skiers said "I know for our team we like to be patriotic, and especially with this year's theme, we have a lot of patriotic in our costumes already. So, we... like performing the patriotic shows.