15 Years of WaterFire Stories…Your Stories!
WaterFire has begun a year-long celebration of our 15th Anniversary
15 years of stories~15 years of friendships
15 years of memories~15 years of remarkable moments
What’s your WaterFire story?
We’d love to hear it. And we’d love to share it,
for your story is our story.
my.story@waterfire.org
All amusing, romantic, funny, joyous, poignant, surprising, touching, unexpected or "only-in-Rhode Island" stories are welcome and encouraged! Be creative, be brief, and be ready to become a part of WaterFire history!
By sending in your story, you give WaterFire Providence permission to edit, publish, and distribute it at their discretion. When submitting, please include your name (as you wish it to be printed) or indicate if you prefer your story remain anonymous. We’d love to know the city and state from which you are writing so we can print that, too!
Your donations make these stories possible! Thank You.
Let the WaterFire Storytelling Begin…
________________________________________
Our WaterFire story began when our son, Ted, started at Brown University. We heard about WaterFire in an orientation pamphlet and were intrigued. Not knowing what really to expect, we ambled "down the hill" one night and in doing so, our lives were changed - forever.
We were totally captivated by the pageantry of the WaterFire spectacle. We meandered along the water’s edge, mingling with others, under the streets, and were transported to the time of pirates and medieval torches (my husband’s favorite part). We watched and listened, ooh’d and aah’d over the music and lighting ceremony and the gondolas floating past. We stopped for dessert, people watched, and just enjoyed the delightful atmosphere of the evening. It was and remains a magical evening.
Through the ensuing years our trips to Providence - luckily for us - always included an evening of WaterFire. It became an annual event and a highlight of our trips. Sadly, before Ted’s senior year, my husband passed away. Knowing that Tim would not be with us, I wanted to make Ted’s graduation somehow extra special. The year already had been so hard and I knew that graduation without Dad would be as well. My parents joined myself and my daughter, Sam, for the graduation festivities that weekend in May. The evening of the graduation, I had planned dinner and dessert for the five of us at restaurants along the river … including, in between courses, a WaterFire gondola ride.
As we glided through the lit waters, sipping our champagne toasting Ted’s accomplishments, there was such a sense of peace and joy that I knew somehow Tim was sharing this experience with us. It was such a lovely part of our commemorative evening.
I have told my friends here in water-less Denver, over and over again, the majesty of WaterFire and truly wish we had something like it so that they could experience it themselves first-hand. There is just nothing like it. Thank you so much for such lovely magic and the wonderful memories we have of all those years.
-Les, Ted and Sam McCarthy
Denver, Colorado
_________________________________________
About ten years ago, my mother took my husband and me - plus my dear friend Lucia - to WaterFire. It was a wonderful experience. There was something so magical about the evening: the music, the fire dancing on the water.
It would be seven years before I started volunteering for WaterFire. My friend had moved to Providence and my mother was beginning a long, downhill slide. Volunteering at WaterFire gave me a chance to escape from the reality of a parent who was no longer the same person with whom I had spent so many years having fun and doing things on a regular basis.
As time went by, Mom had to leave her home for independent living, and then assisted living. Last September she fell and broke her hip and femur. Now I was spending 3 to 4 days a week with her at the hospital and then at hospice.
Being able to continue with WaterFire eased some of the pain of dealing with the imminent loss of my magical mother. She continued to enjoy hearing about my adventures at WaterFire, whether on land or water. And I felt honored to be able to give my time, limited as it was, to an organization that gave my mother such joy and me such pleasure.
I thank my friend Lucia Huntley for introducing me to the WaterFire family of volunteers and all of you for allowing me bring the magic of WaterFire to thousands of people. I will continue to volunteer whenever I am able. I know that my mother is watching over and enjoying my contribution.
I so appreciate being a part of this incredible group.
- Sarah Roche ~ Nashua, New Hampshire
_________________________________________
A Love Story…
This is a story of providence - the story of two people who found True Love at WaterFire. I joined the WaterFire family as a volunteer in 2000. That first night I was captivated both by the flames dancing just above the water, and the hypnotic music which filled the air. That magical moment has stayed with me to this day. Precarious flames mere inches from the dark water which could easily extinguish them represented so many things. I can only describe it with one word - Hope. A word that I had not dared to think might apply to me.
Lisa joined WaterFire as a volunteer in 2005. Like me, she wanted to give back to the community and to meet interesting people. And like me, she had all but given up hope of finding that one True Love. Little did we know how powerful it is to be part of something so much bigger than ourselves.
Of course, meeting Lisa wasn’t as easy as pie! At first, she was very reserved and pretty much kept to herself. I remember once when we were all building a boat I had teased her about being too slow with the glue. She was quick to respond and played along. Another time the volunteers joined together for a hike in the woods. To this day she claims that I got them all lost. I keep telling her that she was already lost and I helped her find her way. (We still enjoy debating that point).
It wasn’t until the first time I visited her that I realized I had met my one true love. As I walked to my car that night, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.
This Christmas, after months of planning, I took her to Celebration, Florida. We rode through the perfectly decorated streets in a vintage vis-a-vis carriage drawn by two majestic white stallions. As we stopped in front of an amazing nativity scene, I knelt down on one knee and asked Lisa to marry me. The hope we both found in the light of WaterFire now fills our life together.
We have had the privilege of being part of so many people’s lives. We feel that we are truly blessed.
This is why we wanted to share our special WaterFire story with all of you.
-Jack Atoyan & Lisa Bedard
"Mad Dog" or "Poochie" stay tuned for another My Story!
My Story Video by Otar Lezhava
Stories come in all media, shapes, and sizes. Otar Lezhava chose to tell his story in video and it is beautiful. Please pass it on.
WaterFire Through the Years…
Mine is a love story: love of WaterFire; love of sharing it with my partner; and finally, love of self - with the help of becoming a WaterFire volunteer.
WaterFire has always been magical and speaks to my soul. While sharing it with my partner, I associated many wonderful memories with it. After a painful ending with my partner, I was left with a large void. I turned to WaterFire as a healing source. I spent that season volunteering with a vengeance. I threw myself into as many activities as I could. Growing to appreciate how much work is necessary behind the scenes was only second to the camaraderie formed with the volunteers.
That summer not only healed me, it gave me an experience I will always be thankful for. To glide silently, invisibly in a black boat; to feed the fires, to hear the crackle, to take in the smells and the hauntingly beautiful music all under a star filled sky - that was WaterFire’s gift to me. Volunteering as an ambassador was equally rewarding when I spoke with visitors from all around the world.
WaterFire touches everyone who attends it. For a short time I was a small cog in a beautiful large wheel. Thank you for this.
- Anonymous
|
Our Engagement Story…
I lived in Providence from 2004-2007 and had never been to WaterFire. I had heard so many great things about the event, but since I was a student working nights and weekends, I never had the opportunity to go. After I graduated from college, I moved back to Central Massachusetts.
About a year and a half later, I met "the girl." Our first date was a getting to know you date, and our second date was a show of interest, which brings us to date number three. I already had a pretty good idea Krista was the one for me, and I wanted to sweep her off her feet. So I planned a date to WaterFire one September night in 2008. I made dinner reservations and attempted to make a Gondola reservation, but I didn’t realize I needed to do that weeks in advance. It was a little discouraging, but there was nothing I could do. We had a wonderful dinner at Waterplace Restaurant where the conversation flowed seamlessly and the smiles never left our faces. We then took a walk along the canal and enjoyed the fires, music and performers. After a while, we ended up overlooking the river from the footbridge. Here, I gathered the courage to tell her how much I liked her and really thought this could be something great. Krista agreed and we had our amazing first kiss. The rest of the night was magical because we were in our own world amidst the atmosphere of WaterFire.
Fast forward just about a year to Labor Day weekend, 2009. As I had mentioned before, I knew Krista was "the one" from the beginning so I began planning our 1 year dating Anniversary. As soon as the WaterFire schedule came out that spring, I looked it over and found the date that would best coincide with our anniversary: September 5, 2009. I told her I was planning our anniversary and she was to do nothing. Since Krista is a planner, she didn’t like that too much, but she went with it. She knew we were going to Providence but did not know what we would be doing. "I have a few surprises" I told her.
Surprise #1: We drove to the city, and pulled up to the Old Court Bed & Breakfast on Benefit Street. Krista LOVES B&B’s, and this was the first time we would stay at one together. Surprise #2: We walked around the East Side until we arrived at a massage therapy studio where Krista received a deep tissue massage. Surprise #3: We went for our dinner reservations at the delicious Capital Grille where we feasted, drank wine, laughed, and talked. Surprise #4: We walked along the canal for a bit and ended up at La Gondola. Krista was overjoyed because she secretly hoped we would be going for a gondola ride, or so she told me later. Now I was not nervous about Surprise #5 until we got into the gondola and started cruising along the river.
You don’t realize just how many people are at these events until you see them lining the canal as you are drifting along. I did the best I could to block them out and concentrate on our evening. Towards the end of our ride, we were coming to the footbridge where we had our first kiss, so I see it only fitting that I ask you this." I pulled out the ring from my jacket pocket. "Krista, will you marry me?" she said YES! We will be getting married in November 2010!
We know that WaterFire is a HUGE part of our relationship and would love nothing more than to celebrate our anniversaries at WaterFire for many, many, many years to come!
Thank you very much!
- Jeff & Krista ~ Central Massachusetts
"No matter how many you go to, they are never the same"
WaterFire. Where do I begin? So many stories run through my mind - all resulting in similar feelings of happiness, warmth, and serenity. I first learned of WaterFire when I moved to Providence from upstate New York in 1999. I loved it! I loved the fact that there was live music. I loved the fact that there were dance classes. I loved the face that there were gondola boat rides. I loved that there was such a strong inclusion of the arts. I loved that there was such a plentiful supply of street vendors. I loved the constant playing of music in the background. I loved feeling the heat from the fire. I think most of all, I loved that WaterFire was a way of bringing the community and all realms of people and businesses together.
The memories I have of WaterFire range from going on an after dinner stroll with someone who is now my husband to going to WaterFire to just have some time to myself. Another memory I have is attending WaterFire with a family member who, due do cancer, is no longer with us. The memories I have of WaterFire are so profound and vivid. This is one of the reasons that when my husband and I did get married, we decided to synchronize our reception with the first WaterFire of the year in 2004, ultimately signifying just how special this was to us.
Although we no longer reside in the immediate area, WaterFire is definitely something I keep posted on our calendar. I remember my sister always teasing me when, on the weekend she would ask me what I was doing and I would reply, "I’m going to WaterFire." She would then say, "didn’t you already go to that?" I guess that’s another thing I love about WaterFire - no matter how many you go to, they are never the same.
- Trina S. Morris ~ Framingham, MA
"WaterFire organizers want to hear your stories"
The Providence Journal released an article written by Karen Lee Ziner, that highlights the mission of "My Stories" to capture the history of WaterFire.