WICHITA, Kansas, May 14, 2008 – A big part of Riverfest involves activities on the river, but this year’s festival has seen numerous events postponed or even canceled because of swift currents.

The Million Dollar Hole in One floats lonely in the Arkansas River. Paddle boats and canoes are nowhere to be seen; a Riverfest absent of river activities.

"It's just too dangerous to put people in the river when it's flowing this fast,” said Riverfest President Janet Wright.

But some people aren’t bothered by the canceled events.

"I heard it on the news, but I don't do very many of those activities, we just come down and do all the other fun things so, don't have to be on the water to be at Riverfest,” said festival goer Linda Dalton.

But Wright says it hasn’t been easy postponing the activities.

"They are very popular,” said Wright. “People love to be able to get out on the river and if we can give them that opportunity that's what we want to do, so we just wait till it calms down.”

Riverfest is working closely with the Wichita Fire Department. The rescue team checks the conditions every day to see if they’re safe.

"We made the decision today to not have the paddle boats in the water simply because of the different currents, the speed of the water, and the amount of water that's going over,” said Captain Jay Tully with the Wichita Fire Department.

The conditions were brought on by increased rainfall in the north and water released by the Lincoln Street dam. And with Old Cowtown’s plans to better utilize the river, they may be faced with the same problems.

"Very shallow boats up at this end would have to be utilized because of the depth of the river, it would have to have a dock, and there would be a connection to the river and it may be canoeing,” said John D’Angelo with Wichita Arts and Cultural Services.

The first Million Dollar Hole In One competition is set for Thursday evening along the river.