A large sign posted at the entrance to Bunkerville gave an ominous warning to the uninitiated or a traveler passing through that they might have second thoughts of entering. All along the main avenues and side streets stood hundreds of people waiting for the next car to come through town. This was the beginning of the annual Fourth of July Bunkerville Town Water Fight, on Tuesday, July 3.

Adults and kids of all ages were lined up Tuesday evening ready to pelt anything that came by with water. They had water balloons, thousands of them, hoses, buckets filled with water, squirt guns and water cannons. At 6:00 p.m. the fun began.

Pickup trucks, full of people in the bed of the truck, began roaming the streets, hitting everyone they saw with water balloons and got the same in return. Trucks pulling trailers full of kids did the same. One ingenious man parked a basket crane, known as a cherry picker, in his driveway partially concealed by a tree. From roof top height, he surprised everyone that came by with either a water balloon or his garden hose.

Swimsuits were the order of the day as the fun seemed to be getting in the back of a truck and running the gauntlet along Virgin Street or Vincent Leavitt Lane where hundreds waited for the next challenger. Kids of all sizes, along with parents and grandparents, threw balloons at each other, kids hitting their mothers, sisters hitting brothers, neighbor against neighbor, even toddlers throwing, as best they could, then running like crazy. Kids could be seen with wheelbarrows filled to the rim with balloons.

The annual Fourth of July event is a very popular town activity providing a fun, wholesome family activity to prepare for the next day's celebration. It started out as a way for kids to beat the summer heat and turned into a fun-filled soakfest. Families had to start around four o'clock filling thousands of balloons to be ready for the onslaught which officially began at six o'clock.

Eight year old Kaylee from Bunkerville summed it all up when she said, “Who doesn't like to hit someone with a water balloon?” To which she immediately followed up by hitting this reporter with a water balloon and running as fast as she could.

Pictures from the Water Fight are included in the slideshow below.