Jake Vander Zanden, one of the singers in the band, said the event is a “celebration of the river.”

His wife, Helen Sarakinos, who used to work for the River Alliance, said part of what sparked the idea for the event nine years ago was seeing her two children playing by the Yahara River.

Her children would gaze at fish, inspect various plants and play along the shoreline, Sarakinos said, and she “saw how they were interacting with this river that was in our backyard.”

“I always thought of it as this conduit for motorboats from one lake to the next,” she said. “But for them, it was this wondrous place.”

Sarakinos said her children got the alliance thinking about how the group could inspire others to appreciate the beauty of the urban river like they did. So the alliance decided it would start a parade. At first, it was only 10 or 15 canoes or kayaks, Vander Zanden said.

“It started out very small, just kind of a ragtag group of people in costumes and a couple boats,” Laine said. “It shows that one creative idea can grow into something that becomes kind of a Madison tradition.”