The event blended water stunts, live tribute music and family‒friendly entertainment. The inaugural event–presented by the Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau and the Warren County Visitors Bureau with support from visitPA and the Pennsylvania Office of Tourism’s Big Stage Events Grant–welcomed more than 20,000 eager attendees to the shores of Kinzua Beach for a long‒weekend celebration that rocked the forest shores.

From the opening moments, festivalgoers were treated to water stunts and championship‒level performances that launched Kinzua Rocks the Wake. Ohio’s Chippewa Lake Water Ski Show Team performed with precision formation skiing, synchronized pyramids and aerial tricks. Wisconsin’s Ski Extreme Productions performed flips, spins, jet‒ski acrobatics, and flyboard theatrics up to 75 feet in the air while onlookers from boats and on the shore watched.

When the sun dipped below the treeline, the large beach stage lit up for live music that included a Nashville‒based Garth Brooks tribute act fronted by Shawn Gerhard and Classic Rock Experience that blended 1970s arena rock from Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Styx and more.

Beyond the high‒flying water shows and nightly concerts, the event offered a mix of family entertainment throughout each day that included interactive comedy magic shows, live acoustic music, local craft breweries and wineries, food trucks and exhibits.

Photos submitted to the Times Observer by Brian and Casey Ferry Pictured are some of the crowds and action from the inaugural Kinzua Rocks the Wake event held over Labor Day Weekend.

Organizers, including Rustin Lippincott, executive director of the Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau, and Casey Ferry, former executive director of the Warren County Visitors Bureau, said they were elated by the turnout.

“It all started with a brainstorming session last spring with Rustin Lippincott and Debbie Dean (from the Allegheny National Forest Visitor’s Bureau) and myself trying to come up with an idea to grab a state tourism grant, and the idea that stuck was a water stunt show on the Allegheny Reservoir,” Ferry said. “We began planning while writing the grant, and when we heard we got the grant, officially announced on July 1,(you read that right), we went into power drive and put together what ended up as the most amazing and emotional weekend of my career.”

Ferry thanked Allegheny Site Management for its work before, during and after the event.

“We worked really hard the last few months to put together what we wanted to be an epic event that we wanted people to remember for a lifetime, and I think we accomplished it,” Ferry said. “I was teary-eyed frequently seeing the happy faces, the children running and splashing, the grass filled with people of all ages enjoying the day, the boats that dropped anchor and watched from the water, and the happy carloads on their way out.”