Fall Detroit River Water Festival
Happens every September on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan.
Happened on September 23 & 24, 2025!
The Detroit River Water Festival is an educational event designed to help students learn about our most precious natural resource - clean, fresh water. Students from the Detroit area will come together to learn about the Detroit River. The Detroit River Water Festival is offered as a FREE program to help educate school students about the importance and beauty of the water around us and how it impacts our daily lives. The Water Festival provides students with hands-on activities, taught by top level academic instructors and water quality professionals designed to expose students to a wide variety of water related issues. Through attending the Water Festival students gain an understanding of the diverse topics related to our water resources including ecosystems, social studies, the geosphere and the hydrologic cycle. By being an active participant in the Water Festival students, and adults learn the central role water and the Detroit River play in the region's economy and quality of life and begin to understand their lifetime role as stewards of this remarkable natural resource.
Registration for Fall 2025 is closed!
Teacher / School Information
The Water Festival is free to attend and any Detroit Public Schools are invited to apply. Presentations are designed to correlate with 4-5th grade science education standards. A maximum of 30 students can be registered per teacher. If you have a classroom / school size larger than 30 students, you must complete multiple registrations with different points of contact listed for each group of 30 students. Teachers / chaperones are expected to stay with their group of no more than 30 students throughout the entire Water Festival.
If you are interested in attending, please email McKenzi Waliczek at mwaliczek@detroitriver.org for the registration link.
Volunteer Information
Volunteers are ambassadors for the Water Festival. They play a critical role in guiding each class to their presentation site, assisting with set-up, parking, and other logistics before, during, and after the event.
Volunteers should plan to arrive at 8:30 am at the registration tent on Belle Isle. Coffee and snacks will be provided. There will be a 9:00 am orientation the morning of the Water Festival to familiarize volunteers with their role, the festival space, and presentation locations.
Each volunteer will also receive a boxed lunch, lanyard / name tag, and a Water Festival T-shirt. Free parking is available but volunteers must have a state rec pass to enter Belle Isle.
Presenter Information
Each presenter will share three-four, 20-25 minute water-themed based, hands-on presentations. Classes will rotate in groups of 30 students between presentation stations. Presenters will receive coffee, a light breakfast, lunch, and a Water Festival T-shirt upon Registration.
We ask that you arrive by 9:00 am.
2025 Fall Detroit River Water Festival was made possible through the following partnerships:
Huron-Clinton Metroparks
Michigan State University Extension
MDNR Outdoor Adventure Center
Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner’s Office
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
U.S. Forest Service
Wilderness Inquiry
Belle Isle Conservancy/Aquarium
Belle Isle Nature Center
Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge
Detroit Riverfront Conservancy
Detroit Zoological Society
Detroit Outdoors
Friends of the Detroit River
Green Living Science
