Northwoods Experience: Brainerd Ski Loons' Last Free Show of the Summer | Lakeland News

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The Brainerd Ski Loons recently concluded their summer season with their final free performance at Lum Park, showcasing a unique blend of water sports and theatrical storytelling. This event highlighted the team's mission to foster personal development and community engagement through aquatic activities. The show elevated the traditional summer experience in the Brainerd Lakes area by incorporating advanced skills such as barefoot and steel skiing, alongside impressive feats like human pyramids and complex tricks performed by skiers of all ages. The performance was structured around a narrative theme featuring characters from "The Incredibles" battling a villain, which added a dramatic, play-like element to the challenging physical demands of water skiing. Behind the scenes, the operation relied heavily on teamwork, coordination, and precise organization similar to a theater production, where every boat, skier, and actor had specific cues and timing. This meticulous planning ensured that the team remained synchronized throughout the show, allowing them to execute new and different stunts that offered audiences fresh entertainment beyond regular skiing routines. Beyond the spectacle, the program serves as a vital platform for youth development, bringing together children, teenagers, and adults who learn from one another across different age groups. Participants gain confidence by tackling difficult challenges while learning valuable lessons about resilience, such as understanding that falling is part of the process and that the team is always there to support them. The environment encourages young members to look up to mentors and aspire to higher levels of skill, creating a supportive community where personal growth happens alongside the fun of performing. Ultimately, the Brainerd Ski Loons provide a dual benefit by offering members an enjoyable way to develop their talents while delivering a distinct form of entertainment to the local community. The team's dedication is evident in their ability to balance high-stakes physical performance with educational opportunities for young people. As they wrap up this summer's shows, which previously attracted over 1,800 spectators, the organization continues to inspire through its commitment to safety, teamwork, and the joy of water sports, supported by local sponsors and a nonprofit news outlet dedicated to covering such community stories.

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The Brainerd Ski Loons, a water ski show team in Brainerd, performed its last free show of the summer at Lum Park. The mission of the Ski Loons is to provide opportunities for personal development and community involvement through water sports. Our reporter Xavier Curry has more about the event for this week's Northwoods experience. >> Here in the Brainerd Lakes area, summer means spending time on the water. Tonight, the Ski Loons are taking that tradition to the next level with barefoot and steel skiing, human pyramids, and so much more. >> aiming right for that jump. He's going to go up. >> I like the tricks I do. I do ATB, strap, pyramids, basically all that type of stuff. I'm one of our youngest bases on the team, which is kind of cool. I love it. It's something I love doing. I like acting. I don't got much minds, which is nice, but it's still fun, and I love doing this type of thing. >> The Ski Loons shows typically has a variety of different themes with this setting involving the Incredibles trying to stop the master villain, adding a play-like element to an already challenging water sport. >> It's a lot of teamwork and coordination. We have specialists that we use behind the scenes just to make sure that everybody knows where they're supposed to be and when. It's a lot like a theater performance where each act has a queue, and the actors and the boats and the skiers, who's in what, and where they're supposed to be, what directions they're coming from, when they say their lines. Just a lot of organization for making sure the team's on the same page. >> The team consists of kids, teens, and adults of all ages, all working towards a common goal. >> It's really fun to see the personal development, uh especially from a lot of our youth. Uh you get to watch them over the years and the confidence they get in doing something that's challenging and making progress at it. It's a lot of fun. There's a lot of things they learn from being on a team with people of different ages. They have peers. They also have mentors that they help with, and they also have people they look up to to aspire to be. >> In the end, it's all meant to provide members with a way to have fun through performing while providing the community with a different form of entertainment. >> It can be a little nerve-wracking, but I just remember to have a fun and one of the biggest things I've learned from being on the team is that it's okay if I fall. Everybody's there to back you up and help support you and you'll get it next time. I think they can expect to see something they maybe haven't seen before. We try to put in stuff that's new, that's different, that you know, isn't just regular skiing. >> Reporting in Brainerd for this week's Northwoods Experience, Xavier Curry, Lakeland News. >> Last summer the team performed four shows for more than 1,800 people in the Brainerd Lakes area. >> Northwoods Experience is sponsored in part by LVI Supply, providing the Bemidji area with industrial products and equipment sales and service. More info at 218-444-3930 or lvisupply.com. Lakeland News is a nonprofit news organization. Donate to Lakeland PBS today to support your local news team.