Since 1996, when the last raft race occurred, festival-goers have clamored for the Fort Wayne Newspapers Three Rivers Festival to return to its roots as a celebration of the city’s waterways. Today, the festival makes its triumphant return to the rivers when the River Games kick off at 10 a.m.

Water quality and safety concerns forced festival leaders to put an end to the popular raft race. Its demise was a major loss for the festival but also an example of the larger conflict the community faces with the rivers.

The St. Marys, St. Joseph and Maumee rivers have always played a central role in Fort Wayne.

People came here because of the rivers, but deteriorating water quality and frequent floods caused the community to quite literally build walls separating the city from its rivers.

Residents are becoming more outspoken about their desire to use the rivers and see development to make the rivers a primary attraction for Fort Wayne again.

Over the last year, activity and interest in the rivers has increased exponentially, and one person at the center of nearly all the river-related goings-on is Dan Wire.

“Dan Wire is the king of the rivers!” said Jack Hammer, executive director of the Three Rivers Festival. He said Wire’s assistance was invaluable in making the festival’s River Games happen.

“It’s in our damn name! We should be on the rivers,” Hammer said. “When I came into this, one of the plans I shared with the festival board was a returned focus on the rivers.”

Coming just two weeks after IPFW’s second RiverFest scored a big hit, the River Games include three events – The Great Canoe Race, the Summit City Soaker and the Water Wars – that will take place on the St. Marys River by the Wells Street Bridge. The games promise to be one of the most popular festival events this year.

“We’re happy to be back on the rivers,” Hammer said.

Devoted to the rivers

Wire, 57, and his wife, Judi, live in the same house he grew up in near the banks of the St. Joseph River just north of North Side High School. Both are active community leaders. He taught industrial arts at North Side High School for nearly 20 years.

But next fall Wire will work as a permanent substitute teacher.

Wire’s work with the rivers goes back at least three decades, and he has served on numerous local boards and committees related to water quality or the rivers, including the city’s Sewer Advisory Board, the Greenway Consortium and Vision 20/20’s Quality of Life committee. Last fall Wire was appointed as a supervisor for the Allen County Soil and Water Conservation District.

“I’ve just been goofin’ around on the rivers for half a century,” Wire said.

He also serves as the unpaid project manager for Friends of the Rivers, a group created almost two years ago to encourage people to use the rivers for recreation and promote development of the riverbanks.

“A lot of people want to get involved. We provided that opportunity, and a lot of work got done in a short time at minimal cost to taxpayers,” said Wire of his role with Friends of the Rivers. “I see my job as keeping the plates – plates of a lot of different colors – spinning.”

To ensure the non-profit could get projects done rather than act as just a cheerleader for the rivers, the Allen County commissioners pledged $25,000 a year for three years to the group.

The group’s first project was helping with the inaugural RiverFest at IPFW in 2010.

Friends of the Rivers

The purpose behind Friends of the Rivers was “we needed everyone rowing the boat in the same direction and coordinating our efforts for the common goal of revitalizing the rivers,” said Irene Walters, executive director of university relations at IPFW and director of RiverFest.

Walters, who was also one of the community leaders behind the creation of the rivers group, is pleased with what Wire has accomplished and describes him as “a community treasure.”

“I’ve just got some local knowledge about the rivers that people seem to honor. And I’m very flattered by that,” Wire said.

Wire thinks river development should follow the same model as trail development. The trails began as a volunteer effort but now have professional leadership in Dawn Ritchie as the greenway manager for the city and Lori Keys as the executive director of the non-profit Fort Wayne Trails. The trail system, including the Rivergreenway, now stretches more than 60 miles.

“It needs to be about more than festivals and fun. The more people are on the rivers and the more we can educate people the further we will get toward preserving and revitalizing the rivers.” Walters said.

Convincing evidence of the feasibility of and community interest in revitalizing the rivers can be found in the overwhelming success of the RiverFest on June 25, which attracted about 30,000 people to the banks of the St. Joseph, and the 2011 River Summit at the Grand Wayne Center.

Wire helped organize the summit that brought together local, state and federal government officials with representatives of nearly every group with a stake in the rivers. The summit’s keynote speaker was Ann Coulter, a community development expert from Chattanooga, Tenn., who shared how that city was able to turn its riverfront from an eyesore into a prime attraction. Coulter recounted how a three-year project attracted $120 million in investments and resulted in expansions of an aquarium, art museum and children’s museum. The area is now site of a 10-day music festival and boat regattas.

Coulter’s central message was that Fort Wayne has similar river-development opportunities.

Community priority

“This is a big issue for the community. Clearly we’re getting a lot more interest,” said Sharon Feasel, the city’s community development manager for downtown and member of the Friends of the Rivers. “I was pleased to see over 100 people come to the River Summit. That was a nice turnout and it does show the interest.”

When residents are asked for their opinions – for the city’s Downtown Blueprint Plus, the regional Vision 20/20 plan and the Legacy Task Force’s work to determine how to spend the nearly $80 million from Indiana & Michigan Electric Co. – developing the rivers is always among the top three priorities.

After the devastating flood of 1982, city leaders worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to build a $44.7 million system of levees and flood walls that extends about 10 miles along the rivers downtown. The flood-control project was completed in 2001.

“Our accessibility has been extremely limited by the flood-control projects, and we have to take advantage where we can,” Wire said. “Can we safely develop along the rivers and not compromise the flood control projects? Absolutely! It may mean that new buildings have to be elevated. We just lift things up to the proper elevation – that’s very doable.”

Soon, the Friends of the Rivers expects to hear about a National Endowment for the Arts grant application. If the grant is received, the money will be used for three projects, lighting on the Wells Street Bridge, city gateway enhancements and a comprehensive riverfront development plan.

“The first thing you will see is greatly improved accessibility to the rivers, both visually and the ability to boat and so forth,” Wire said. “Out of sight is out of mind. The more people using the water and the more traffic, then the businesses will come. I see people going to the rivers for shopping or dining or drinks by the water.”