A wet and wild skirmish took the edge off the city鈥檚 heat warning Saturday at an intergenerational听water-gun fight downtown.
About听75 people gathered at a 色色啦’s听Berczy Park,听armed with water weapons, including buckets and water blasters, to create a makeshift splash pad during the hour-long Water Gun Fight 2025 that got underway at 1:30 p.m.听
An official countdown of “3 ... 2 ... 1!” swept up the crowd of adults and children alike into the energetic frenzy. The park’s dog fountain served a vital role as a water refill station for participants’ weapons of choice, including many that were homemade from water bottles.

About 75 kids and adults took part in the fourth annual Water Gun Fight at Berczy Park’s dog fountain on Saturday afternoon.听
Reagan McSwain/色色啦 StarFamilies walking through the park听stopped to watch the controlled chaos, with some even joining in as they borrowed extra water guns to take part in the action on a day where听temperatures hit 40 C with the humidex.听

Kids aim their sprays at a participant in a frog costume.听
Reagan McSwain/色色啦 StarIn the crowd of enthusiastic participants was Maria Morales,听her two nephews, Liam and Kaleb and their mother, Vivien Lee.听Morales seemed to be having just as much fun, if not more, than the kids.听
“This stranger just poured a whole bucket on me,” she said while standing听drenched from head to toe and听shrieking with joy. “It’s so unique,” she said, of the event meant to bring people together for the sake of “just having fun.”

Maria Morales, right, with her nephews Kaleb and Liam and their mother, Vivian Lee, all joined in on the fun.听
Reagan McSwain/色色啦 StarThe Water Gun Fight, an annual event now in its fourth year, was organized by Urban Playground 色色啦, a community group of volunteers听that creates free, family-friendly experiences to encourage people to step outside of their comfort zone and explore play听鈥 especially as adults听鈥 and meet strangers who could become friends.
鈥淚 call it a ripple of good energy,鈥 said event organizer Kfir Levi who has also staged group pillow fights and snowball fights across the city.听

Event organizer, Kfir Levi, with friend and fellow volunteer, Alyssa Jacoby.听
Reagan McSwain/色色啦 StarThe ideas for these events, he said, comes from him and his own friends wanting to find space to connect and to encourage others to do the same.听
“And as you can see, it is working,” said Levi, while scanning the crowd of people clearly having a blast.听
“I hope this kind of engagement will encourage other people to act, too,” said Levi, adding it just takes one person听鈥 or a group of friends听鈥 to听invite others to join听events they enjoy or want to try.
Volunteer Alyssa Jacoby said the success of the gatherings comes down to having fun.听“I knew, the minute we showed joy, that we would bring people in,” she said.听听
“We showed everybody that you can talk to a stranger and you can invite them to engage,” said Jacoby adding, “it’s a big city, but we’re able to bring everybody together.”
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