Bijou Park bubbles over with thousands of Tahoe-ites
By Kathryn Reed
“It’s a stroll in the park.”
That’s how Chris Hawken, No. 2 guy with South Lake Tahoe Park’s and Recreation Department, described Saturday’s annual Bijou Bash. And it’s exactly what it looked like.
Kids learn about recycling at the South Tahoe Refuse table on Sept. 11. Photos/Kathryn Reed
With nearly 3,000 people meandering through Bijou Community Park, which was closed off to vehicle traffic, it was one of those Tahoe Saturday’s to bask in the sun, mingle with friends, watch kids scamper about, munch on food from local restaurants, and visit a variety of informational booths.
Tahoe Mountain Milers started things off with a poker run with 30 participants.
Anthony Davis kept things rolling as he emceed the event and had people grooving to the music in between the various stage acts. Demonstrations from Miss Marcia’s dancers to karate to gymnastics brought out hundreds to watch.
At the other end of the park, near the entrance, kids scampered on the big equipment the city brought out. Lots of kids visited the firefighters based on the number of plastic red fire hats being worn all over.
Kristopher Fisher, 10 was all smiles as he climbed into the cab of the Kodiak snowblower with its 1,000 horsepower engine and 1,470 pounds of torque.
In between the areas gymnasts practiced in the stretch of lawn that was put in by park staff last year. Children played on the permanent equipment installed this year as well as on and in the bouncy house apparatuses brought in for the bash.
Exact attendance numbers are hard to calculate because not everyone walks in the main entrance. And with it being free, no tickets are sold. About 2,700 attended last year and it’s anticipated about 300 more came this year. It helped that there wasn’t a downpour this year.
People even showed up before the 11am start time, clearly redefining Tahoe time.
We spent 2 hours at The Bash and had a wonderful time! Weather wise the day was PERFECT! Look forward to next year. See ya all on Oct. 2 at the airport for the firefest.
Our family loves the bijou bash! The kids enjoy seeing the snow removal equipment, fire trucks, bouncy house, slides, and really like getting free bags of goodies from all the vendors. I love getting free wildflower seed packets to plant in spring around the house. Hopefully this event will continue to grow and get more local businesses and groups to participate.
Nice to see the city kinda giving us a great opportunity to grow together better.
That was a good time… I had the whole family out there for most the day. Good Work putting that together!!
Kudos to Chris Hawken, Gary Moore, and the entire Park & Rec staff. This is what community is about! I had so much fun at my booth, playing with the kids and chatting with the adults. They are concerned about providing for their families and future of South Lake Tahoe.
This event is what we want to be about.