2024 World Tour Paddling Film Festival brings together community to kick-off Flathead float season

"When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy." - Rumi

Here's to the river! Thursday, April 25, the 19th annual World Tour Paddling Film Festival tour brought water sports to the screen with whitewater and sea kayaking, canoeing, rafting, stand-up paddle boarding and environmental documentaries. Flathead Rivers Alliance and Montana Kayak Academy joined efforts to co-host second year of film festival, in Whitefish, Montana.

Ticket and raffle proceeds went to Flathead Rivers Alliance (FRA), a nonprofit that promotes river education and stewardship, and Montana Kayak Academy (MKA), a separate nonprofit that brings free youth paddling instruction opportunities to the Flathead.

Raffle prizes included a Red Eagle Aviation flight to Schafer Meadows in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, a $250 gift card to Backcountry Packraft Rentals, an NRS stand-up paddle board, a Kokopelli packraft, a gift certificate to Bedrock Sandals and more.

Flathead Rivers Alliance was formed in 2019 in response to a spike in river recreation and the anticipated release of the multi-agency Comprehensive River Management Plan to protect the three forks of the Flathead River. Stakeholders, including river outfitters, nonprofit leaders, river users and officials with Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park, work with FRA to provide education and outreach to the public. The partnership is designed to improve management and protect the 219 miles of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act-designated system, which includes the North, Middle, and South forks of the Flathead River.

Montana Kayak Academy launched in 2016 and provides free youth kayaking instruction and a variety of classes, ranging from kayak-rolling clinics to adult and women’s specific classes.