CALDWELL, Idaho — Downtown Caldwell hosted its first Indian Creek Festival in 2003 to celebrate uncovering the first section of Indian Creek. This weekend around a thousand people lined the banks of the creek to watch one of the signature events of the festival.
The kayak race kept people entertained as 25 vessels made out of just cardboard and duct tape attempted to navigate Indian Creek. The crowd got to watch a lot of carnage, but there were also boats that made it down successfully, including Mario and Luigi.
"Woo, it was a lot of fun, this was our first time entering we came to watch last year and my son said we have to enter this year," said Becky Butlin. "He helped build the boat and my daughter painted it so it was a great family effort."
Families and local businesses spent weeks building their craft as the race had 25 contestants each competing in a heat with the winner earning the chance to race for the championship. Which also meant their cardboard crafts has to survive two runs.
"We were nervous, there was some good competition, some very creative boats," said Butlin. "We had some good teamwork and we pulled out the win."
The creek is just part of the story as Destination Caldwell opened Indian Creek Plaza five years ago. This development has been a game changer for downtown, last year they hosted 289 events and activities drawing in 265,000 people.
"It is great to see a small community come out together like this and support each other," said Gavin Dockstader, who works with Cushing Terrell, an architect firm that has been in business for 85 years. "We have a bunch of fun.”
Indian Creek Plaza gets a lot of use with the splash pads in the summer and ice skating in the winter. It gives local families a place to hang out while helping local businesses.
"This is such a beautiful area, it's great" said Butlin. "We come here for this event, we come here in the the winter and it is always fun, it never disappoints."
The next events at Indian Creek happen on September 30 with the Taste of Caldwell Harvest Festival and in October downtown will host Dogtoberfest.
