Fun for the family: Hugo’s Family Fun Day has events Saturday afternoon

The Aberdeen Aqua Addicts will be the main event at the first Hugo’s Family Fun Day this Saturday at Joos Park on the Jamestown Reservoir.

The water ski team will hit the water at 6 p.m. as the final act of a day full of events planned for the whole family.

“We want the community to know we do appreciate them,” said Dave Borseth, Hugo’s manager. “We’ve been here 14 years it’s been successful for us and I think it’s just a good way to show the community how much we do care and appreciate their business and patronage.”

Borseth decided to end the event with the Aqua Addicts, because he felt it was a good way to close out the remaining days of summer.

“It’s summer fun and they are very good, very talented people,” he said.

The Aqua Addicts have been in existence since 1996 and put on a weekly show just south of Aberdeen a few miles off of U.S. Highway 281. This year the group purchased their own lake for the performances.

“It’s good entertainment the whole family can enjoy,” said Todd Thorson, show director for the Aqua Addicts.

The show is similar to the water ski show Tommy Bartlett puts on three times a night during the summer in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. — except this show is a little longer at about an hour.

Thorson said the audience can expect a wide variety of tricks. Some include a ballet line, barefoot skiing and of course the pyramid, all done to music with an announcer.

Speeds of the boat pulling the skiers range from 17 to 46 mph, depending on the tricks.

Unlike Tommy Bartlett, which features 11 to 13 skiers, the Aqua Addicts will have approximately 35 skiers.

Skiers for the Addicts that will perform in Jamestown on Saturday also range from 8 to 41 years old.

“Most of our kids, they prefer we take them skiing seven days a week, sunup to sundown,” Thorson said.

In reality the group practices year round (indoors for the winter months learning the basics) a few times a week.

The Aqua Addicts will close out Hugo’s Family Fun Day, but the event starts at 11 a.m. with children’s games. A disc jockey will also provide music until about 1:30 p.m.

A free lunch will be served at noon. There is no admission and handicap parking will be available.

There will also be booths from community organizations and food vendors throughout the day.

Borseth said the event started out as a resurrection of Jam the Dam but eventually evolved into a day for the entire family.

“This is for the community of Jamestown,” Borseth said. “The community has been very good to us and we just appreciate each and every one of them and it’s something that Hugo’s can give back to them.”

He also wants more people to enjoy Jamestown Reservoir.

“I think the people of Jamestown and the surrounding community do know how beautiful a place it is, but I don’t think it gets utilized enough either,” Borseth said.

Sun reporter Ben Rodgers can be reached at 701-952-8455 or by email at brodgers@jamestownsun.com

Tags: diversions, events