Water Festival, a poem by Edith Bannister Dowling

Given that it's mid-July and the 53rd Annual Water Festival is underway, here's a poem from A Patchwork of Poems about South Carolina (pp. 30-31) by Edith Bannister Dowling about the event. When Mrs. Dowling wrote this poem published in 1970, the Water Festival events fell on one weekend in mid-July. Over the years, the Water Festival has grown considerably larger and longer.

Water Festival

The Angels are Blue,
Beaufort heavens are, too,
And our Bay, this big Water weekend.
Swift skiers -- Greek gods;
Speed boats -- hottest rods;
All these, with the proud Parade, blend
To make magic marine;
And then each lovely Queen,
Is divine, at that ball of a Ball:
So from water, and air,
Comes a show rich and rare:
Have fun, guests and townsfolk and all!

The Beaufort District Collection is a division of the Beaufort County Library, a department of Beaufort County Government of South Carolina.