This year's Damfest was quite a celebration! While the overall turnout was not as high was it was in 2001 it was still a good time, especially when Steve McCrea and Cedar Falls Mayor Jon Crews showed up (although McCrea arrived around 7 and left long before Crews arrived around 8:15). Unfortunetaly the live music that was planned for the occasion fell through.....we should be able to arrange something for next year. There was plenty of food and drink to please the patrons that did attend, and the weather was much better than expected; pleasant skies, a little wind, few bugs and no rain! To top it all off, this was the fourth year in a row where the cops were kept at bay. Yes, Damfest 2002 joins the ranks of the previous Damfest celebrations as a great success!

Also, you can now access all the dam news at www.damfest.org As of now you will be automatically redirected to this geocities website, but rest assured Cory and Cam are working hard to set up a world-class server to host all the dam goodies! And when we have it up and running we'll let you all know!

Below are some pictures of the event, each on followed by a brief word from Special Dam Committee II member Cam. If you have a nice pic to share send it to [email protected] **please note that it may take a little bit for this entire page to load. We're working on reducing the image size and should have something a little more zippy up and running shortly**

This is a picture of Alex Girard and Cory Heisterkamp   the dam on May 14. We got the dam cleaned up, sprayed weedkiller and made some finishing touches to the paint job we gave the guard rails and light poles.

This is one of the globes that we had replaced for Damfest 2002. I'm not sure if it was one that was added for Damfest 2001 or a midyear replacement, but apparently some hoodlum got to it. Some people have no pride in their city.

Here is first-time Damfest attendant Steve McCrea, surrounded by some of his past and current students. From left: Conrad Hutcheson, Blake Sanders (behind), Jess Rolph, Steve McCrea, Alison White, Mike Miller (behind), Bekah (last name unavailable),
Micah Pruisner, Matt Humpke and Cory Heisterkamp.

Steve McCrea engaged the crowd in some impromtu showtunes.

Iron Chef Micah Pruisner grills up some tasty eats for the patrons at Damfest 2002. His gas grill was a nice step up from his "charcoal experiment" in years past. Next year: Dan Hubbard with his award-winning dutch ovens???

DJ Bill Payne takes the helm at the iBook, which provided enough tunes to last the night. (special thanks to Micah for his amazing "portable hard drive")

An annual rite of passage: the Dam group picture! I can't name all the folks who are in this picture but I do recognize a lot of familiar faces. We didn't have as many people "chicken out" this year as we did last year, but since turnout was lower at the time we took this picture it wasn't much of a problem. It's a shame McCrea or Crews weren't around at the time to join us!

Cedar Falls Mayor Jon Crews arrived in good order, and Special Dam Comittee II chairmembers Cory Heisterkamp, left, and Cam Carlson gave him a proper welcome. At right is the magnificient portrait Alex made for the mayor on an 8-foot length of tarp material. Crews bought the portrait from Alex for a hansome amount, which I will not disclose for legal reasons (considering Alex has already cashed the check, and so far hasn't delivered the portrait yet...)

No one could ever conprehend the thoughts that run through the mind of a world-class mayor.

There's no significance to this picture other than it's one of my favorites from Damfest. It's also the only night shot I chose to put online (I don't take good night shots).

There's also a wonderful MPEG movie of Mayor Jon Crews available at Cory Heisterkamp's eldocountry website. Some day it will be added to www.damfest.org

Comments or suggestions can be sent to [email protected]