CKS first PaddleFest event in Buena Vista Colorado on May 19, 20, and 21st was a river festival with on water instruction, boat demos and an international group of pro paddlers on hand to teach skills and share knowledge with the 1,000 plus in attendance. Jointly celebrating the grand opening of the newest Colorado play park at South Main, this kick off event for the Colorado paddling season provided an opportunity for 4 AW Athlete Ambassadors to talk as a group about American Whitewater to a capacity crowd at the Saturday evening Wet House premiere. Jimmy Blakeney, Tommy Hilleke, Katie Selby, and Clay Wright, used the opportunity to present a convincing case for individual paddlers to join and support American Whitewater.

Their message was clear, concise, and enthusiastically received by the audience. The Ambassadors emphasized, with a consistent message, that access to and water in our nation's rivers is not guaranteed. They illustrated with examples how AW is a prime voice of the paddling community and has a record of many successful  negotiations to secure water and access. They stressed that the impact of AW's voice at the table gains strength as the numbers of members represented increases, and on a different note, they gave examples of how they personally use some of the AW website river resources that benefit the paddling community.

This was one of the first times that a group of the new AW Athlete Ambassadors appeared together to appeal to a large audience to support AW and their impact was powerful. It demonstrated how their credibility on river issues along with their ability to command the attention of paddlers make a compelling combination to get the message out to the river community.