Upwards of 60 people at a time showed up to run around and cool off on a warm last day of June for Water Fight Philly, a large-scale water gun battle held in Fairmount Park, not far from the Please Touch Museum. Through the chaos, alliances were formed (and promptly broken) between different parties teaming up to see who could do the most soaking.

The event was organized by Gabriel Nyantakyi, who started Waterarms Over Firearms in hopes of redefining guns at a time when shootings dominate the headlines in Philadelphia and across the country. Just two weeks ago, there were 23 shootings in a single weekend in the city, including one where a gunman opened fire on a graduation party, leaving one man dead and five injured.

“It’s a gun that shoots water, the thing that’s the essence of life. There’s a poetry there, a message of hope, that I wanted to share,” Nyantakyi told WHYY last year.

The West Philadelphia resident — who is such a big fan of Super Soakers, he has one tattooed on his stomach — said on the group’s Facebook page that the goal of events like this one is to be “a joyous celebration of life” and to give people space “to heal.”

It was also part of an effort to bring the “guns down, water guns up” movement — which has become popular in places like Georgia — to Philadelphia.