Boat Nik

Boat Nik is a time where the community comes and enjoys a festive celebration by the river. There are simply lots of different types of people that come to this event, so Boat Nik gives a glimpse of the cultural setting in grants pass. I went with Tim and his family to enjoy the fireworks. They were shot from the other side of the river: close enough to add some real excitement to the shock wave traversing your body. The fireworks lit up the sky as though it was in the afternoon.

I was able to observe something at Boat Nik; Tim stated it this way "Motherhood comes early here". I looked around and saw lots of babies, this was the family event of the year, but the mommy that was pushing the stroller was between 14 and 18 years old: the grandmother is 35 years old. If this was only one or two teenage girls, I could understand, but this was most of the teenage girls. There were basically two types at this event, those that had a boyfriend, and those that had a stroller.

The young people were fascinating at Boat Nik. The goths travelled around in groups of black and metal, the tough guys with tattoos and muscle shirts moved from booth to booth, everyone enjoyed the festival and the fireworks that came after dusk. Most of my time was spent on the bank of the river, watching and listening to people before the fireworks started. Some teenage girls sat behind me and started talking rather loudly, they were enjoying being counter-cultural, though they wouldn't phrase it that way. I sat on the grass and took in what was going on.