(gentle music) - WaterFire is a mix between fire and water.

It's a unique carnival, festival that goes on all day but the highlight is the lighting of the river and the braziers in the river at dusk.

He grew up in Pittsburgh.

My name is Brian Keppel.

I am with the Sharon Historical Society and the Sharon Beautification Commission.

And today, we are doing walking tours of the downtown Sharon area.

Sharon has a very deep history from the mid 1800s.

I think people are more fascinated with the local history, something that they remember, they have an affection for.

There's some deep history here, a lotta old buildings and I think people do enjoy listening about the things we have to tell them, facts they didn't know, and some pictures they've never seen before.

Okay, we're going across the Ruud.

- It's really going well, don't you think?

I am Karen Anderson, Land Operations Manager for WaterFire Sharon PA.

I just love helping others and believe that this has done a lot to revitalize not just downtown Sharon but the region, the community, everything.

It's just a great event.

It takes about 350 people on the day of WaterFire but that doesn't count the countless hours that we've put in the weeks leading up to the event.

It's a lotta long hours and it's a lotta labor of love but it definitely pays off when you see all the smiling faces at the end of the day.

- Oh, absolutely, please come aboard.

My name is Brandi Burrows and I'm a WaterFire Sharon Boat Captain.

I have no idea how many hours I've put in, it's a lot.

So the big challenge of this, all right, you see me driving a boat right now, it is relatively light out, we're in the middle of the river, and there are no obstructions.

And yes, this is easy.

It's trying to sidle a boat up to a lit fire in the dark while the current's pushing you one way, the wind is pushing you another way, and you need to go a third way without running the brazier over, without burning the people who are on your boat, and oh, by the way, there's 20,000 people watching you.

It's kind of an adrenaline rush but it also fills your entire brain and you can't be sitting here thinking gosh, did I balance my checkbook or did I leave the oven on?

Part of why I do this is that it is fun to be out here on the water, but what really gets me here is the community.

I love looking up here at night and seeing the thousands of people that come to watch this.

I love the fact that we're bringing people here, into the Shenango Valley to see what we've got, but I also love the fact that this brings together people from all over the valley.

I've made fantastic friends through WaterFire.

- These are the wishes that came from the Starfield from the last WaterFire.

I'm Jennifer Barborak and I'm the River Operations Manager for WaterFire Sharon.

And so it's up to me to kinda make sure that everything that happens on the water and also the torch procession which happens on the land in affiliation with what's happening on the water, everything goes smoothly.

Now we're comin' between the State Street and the Connelly Bridge.

This section of the river is probably like the easiest to navigate through, I think.

There's not a lot of obstructions.

When we first started this, it was a handful of people that we kind of knew that came and helped, but it's grown so much bigger.

The whole community has come out in support of it.

(soft acoustic guitar music) With WaterFire, it's, it's really more of a performance on water.

(flute music) (ceremonial Om chanting) So we kind of blend into the background so it's not about us, individually, it's about us putting on this presentation for the community so that they can see the fires, you know, kind of be comforted by the smell of the campfire and the pine, and the cedar, and hear the crackling.

And when the boats go by and we put the wood on there, and it crackles and the fires blaze up, that's kind of the beauty of WaterFire.

- Thank you, would you mind doing us?

- [Jennifer] The people that are volunteering with WaterFire are now part of this whole revitalization effort of Sharon.

It's not even, it's become so much bigger than just WaterFire, it's kind of become more about the beauty of the river and bringing people to the river to celebrate the river.

- I wouldn't have guessed eight years ago when I moved there that I would fall in love with a river, but I did.

This is an awesome little river and it's really great to be able to have a good excuse to come out and spend time on it and to spend time on it doing something that not a whole lot of other people do.

- This whole revitalization effort has occurred in the city and I think that's why we do it.

We do it because we want people to love Sharon and to come here and to see us be a part of something bigger and to kind of rope them into being a part of something bigger, too.

(soft music)