Athens Water Festival

Water Olympic Opening Ceremony

Athens 2021 Water Olympics with rings

Saturday, September 11, 2021 from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Location: Sandy Creek Park (400 Bob Holman Road)
Cost: $2 per person park entry

Go for the gold with Team Water! Compete in fun water games to earn your spot on the Olympic pedestal. As always you can expect music, magic, and the chance to meet sea life. Make sure to bring a bathing suit and water bottle.

 Does your organization or group promote water conservation, water quality, or general water-related issues? If so, we invite you to share your message with families at the Athens Water Festival. 

Please complete the 2021 Athens Water Festival Presenter Form by August 1, 2021.  

Make A Splash

Water organizations come together to make water sparkle! Touch sea life, become a water drop or create a water delivery system. With open-ended activities, participants of all ages enjoy the activities at the festival. Check out the Red & Black article about a previous water festival.

Thank you to these organizations for presenting at the 2019 Athens Water Festival!


Below are groups who have participated in past festivals and get an idea of the types of hands-on, interactive, and educational displays and games we have for festival participants of all ages to enjoy. You don’t have to tell the kids, but we splash learning into all of this fun. Most water festival activities meet the Georgia Standards of Excellence in science.

ACC Public Utilities Dept: Play "Water Drop Plinko", make your own water footprint, and learn how we clean both your drinking water and dirty water everyday.

Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful: Learn to litter less at lunch by removing litter from "The Claw."

ACC Cooperative Extension & Master Gardeners: Make a pot out of newspaper & plant a seed inside. Remember to water! Try making edible compost, yum!

State Botanical Gardens of GA: Water is essential to growing a garden that attracts wildlife.

Public Utilities & Transportation and Public Works: Splash in the spray and explore the trucks needed to take care of our water in ACC

ECOGIG: Build a sea coral, drive a ROV, or learn about tube worms.

ACC UGA 4H Extension: Turn into a water molecule and make a bracelet.


ACC Stormwater: Travel the maze as a rain drop and battle through before arriving at the source. Also, create a bracelet as a reminder to clean our streams

UGA Marine Sciences: Get up close & personal with creatures from the Georgia coast.

UGA EcoReach: Evaporation, condensation, and precipitation; learn these steps!

UGA Water Resource Team: To flush or not to flush, that is the question.  Test your flushing knowledge.

UGA Warnell: Visit with animals and learn how they use water to survive.

Art Truck: Art Class - use watercolors and stamps to create beautiful works. 

UGA Ecotones: Make your own paper from recycled materials!

UGA Fly Fishing Club: Learn tips and tricks to better your cast.


ACC Recycling: Make your new best friend out of "trash."

Upper Oconee Watershed Network: Macroinvertebrates call our local streams home. UOWN brings a few along to join us in the festival fun. 

Sandy Creek Nature Center: Design a fish to survive under the sea. 

Bag the Bag UGA: Plastic bags wreak havoc in our water. Recycle a t-shirt into a bag and bring it the next time you go shopping. 

Athens Area Humane Society puppies, puppies, puppies!

Girl Scout Troop: Create your own paddle boat that floats and sit-upons out of plastic bags!

Soil and Water Conservation Commission: Learn how water flows through our community and the various items that can pollute our waters.

UGA American Fisheries Society: Design fish friendly environments with culverts and brides.


New ACCPUD logo to USE Stormwater Final copy ACCLS logo