WaterFire

Last night was the second full fire of the 2012 WaterFire season, and my third season as a volunteer.  For those who don't know WaterFire, it is a non-profit arts organization with 'performances' or lightings almost every other Saturday during the summer season.  Each lighting is sponsored by a company (or companies) and is run mainly through the hundreds of volunteers.  Contrary to what most people seem to believe, WaterFire is not just about the fires that are lit up and down the rivers in downtown Providence.  Each event has so much going on on shore as wekk.  For example, last night was sponsored by AMICA Insurance and celebrated Gaspee Days with various events along the river like long boats and drum corps.  Additionally there was a performance by the RI Shakespeare Theatre, the opening of the Portuguese Heritage Festival, and the Ten31 gargoyles and oracles at the World War memorial.

With the gargoyles a few years ago

WaterFire is such a great event.  It is a whole artistic experience with lots of detail and care put into every performance; because that is what it is.  A performance.  To complete the performance all WaterFire volunteers are dressed in black.  This shows a united community working together to put on that performance.  And that truly is the feel of WaterFire, the atmosphere of the night is one of community.  A community of people coming together to put on the performance and a community of people coming to support the performance.  It is really moving to play a small part in the WaterFire.

When people visit and support WaterFire they see all the art behind the lighting but there is so much more that goes into WaterFire behind the scenes.  Preparation begins days in advance and the morning off a lighting volunteers are there around 8:00am to build the fires and get ready for the night.  My Dad and I volunteer on the wood boats and while this is my third season, this is my dad's sixth or seventh so he's been doing this for a long time.  He is a wood boat captain and as such we always arrive early in the evening to help out on the river and the boats.  Last night the lighting began at 8:40pm but we were there at 6pm!  And we did not stop until 12:30am!  It's a long night but very rewarding!  Here's a little breakdown of what our night looked like:

6pm-Arrived at the volunteer check in.  Got on our boat Eos and with another volunteer began pulling brazier rain covers.  It took about a half an hour to get half of the braziers uncovered and the covers folded.

6:30pm-Went to the AMICA tent they set up at AMICA sponsored WaterFires.  My dad is an employee at AMICA so we went in and got some food.

7:00pm-Head back to the dock to check the boats and meet our first mate for the evening.

7:30pm-Dad had the Captain's meeting where the captains and first mates from all the boat meet with the volunteer coordinator to discuss the lighting ceremony and 'feed' positions (who is charge of what fires).

8:00pm-Got our crew members on the boat and waited for our guest lighters.

8:30pm-Around this time we headed out on the procession to get our torch lit in the basin and moved to our assigned braziers, lighting began around 8:40.

9:15-11:40pm-This is when we fed the fires as they get low.  We usually go out to feed around every twenty or so minutes and each feed is about 15/20 minutes long.  When we're not feeding we usually tie up under one of the bridges to stay out of sight and keep an eye on our fires.  At this point we have our 'breaks' where we have water or snacks.  If we get low on wood we use the breaks instead to reload our boats.

12am-Crew members got let off around the river to help with strike.  Strike is disassembling the on shore parts of WaterFire.  Every crew member is asked to volunteer for strike for about 30 minutes.  It seems like a lot but when everyone helps it goes fairly quickly.  Last night I helped take down Starry, Starry Night, clean up the Guest Dock, and helped with the Brazier Society on College Street.

12:30am-The captains and first mates arrive from storing the wood boats and guest boats.  When my dad gets back we meet up at the dock.  At this point usually everyone from the crew goes out for a drink all together and hang out after the end of the event.  Around 1:30am we left to go home!

It's a really fun experience and I can't picture spending my Saturday evenings anywhere else!  The next lighting is June 23rd and with sunset around 8:20, the lighting will be around 8:40pm again.  If you are interesting in attending (or volunteering at) WaterFire here is the schedule: http://waterfire.org/schedule/2012-2/
New volunteers are always needed!