Fire truck finale at Issaquah Splash Day | Pictures

Within a minute of the fire truck pulling up for Issaquah’s annual Splash Day, kids had abandoned their water games – such as a version of duck, duck, goose where kids sit in buckets of water instead of chairs – and chanted for the fire hose to start.

By Celeste Gracey • August 2, 2012 5:27 pm
A boy holds up an umbrella to find some reprieve from the spray of a fireman’s hose on Splash Day in Issaquah.
A boy holds up an umbrella to find some reprieve from the spray of a fireman’s hose on Splash Day in Issaquah.

Within a minute of the fire truck pulling up for Issaquah’s annual Splash Day, kids had abandoned their water games – such as a version of duck, duck, goose where kids sit in buckets of water instead of chairs – and chanted for the fire hose to start.

Firefighters from Station 73 hooked their ladder truck up to a fire hydrant and within a few minutes the excitement turned to chaos. A mosh pit of kids filled in beneath the heaviest spray, while others sprinted from the water like a bomb had gone off.

A breeze pushed the water back and forth across the field, when someone opened an umbrella. A few children ran beneath it, before darting to their parents.

When the excitement died down, so did the water. A firefighter approached the crowd, soliciting a steady chant “we want water,” parents joked that they might have a riot soon, but the hose began again, and so did the chidlren’s laughter.

A few hundred kids showed up at the Issaquah Community Center event Aug. 1. It was hosted by the Issaquah Parks & Recreation.

Cade Etters, above, and Ethan Etters take their turn on an oversized inflatable slip and slide. BY CELESTE GRACEY, ISSAQUAH & SAMMAMISH REPORTER

Merrit Haynes is chased around a circle of peers in a version of duck-duck-goose, where kids sit in tubs of water instead of chairs at Splash Day Aug. 1.BY CELESTE GRACEY, ISSAQUAH & SAMMAMISH REPORTER

Volunteer Sean Davidson takes a wet sponge to the face during a game at the Issaquah Splash Day Aug. 1. BY CELESTE GRACEY, ISSAQUAH & SAMMAMISH REPORTER

Firefighters from Station 73 spray water from their ladder truck Aug. 1 in the finally of Splash Day. BY CELESTE GRACEY, ISSAQUAH & SAMMAMISH REPORTER

A firefighter from Station 73 laughs, after getting the crowd of children to chant “We want water” to solicit an encore of the finale to Issaquah Splash Day, Aug. 1. BY CELESTE GRACEY, ISSAQUAH & SAMMAMISH REPORTER

Remy Eng takes her try to knock off all the ping pong balls off their mounts at Issaquah’s Splash Day Aug. 1. BY CELESTE GRACEY, ISSAQUAH & SAMMAMISH REPORTER

Saila Olson slides down an inflatable slip and slide at Issaquah’s Splash Day Aug 1. BY CELESTE GRACEY, ISSAQUAH & SAMMAMISH REPORTER