The Slice: Bus driver honored annually in water fight

Up in the northern reaches of Stevens County, there is a tradition.

On the last day of classes at the little K-8 Onion Creek School, they have a water fight. It’s held in the park near the Onion Creek Store.

The store’s Terri Charbonneau explained the format.

“Water balloons are filled and placed around the basketball court. With parental permission and cooperation with Onion Creek School, a school bus brings the participants who wait patiently while Mark (Charbonneau) explains the rules.”

• No aiming for the face or ears.

• Be careful re: the little kids.

• Have fun.

“Each child is armed with two water balloons.”

When that ammo has been expended, out come the squirt guns.

“As the action winds down, the kids are instructed to pick up the dead balloons in exchange for icy treats.”

The annual Onion Creek water fight is a tradition going back about 17 years. It started when a school bus full of students pulled up next to the store on a hot day near the end of the school year. Mark Charbonneau was standing there with a hose in hand when inspiration struck.

He walked over to the bus and sprayed water through the open windows. “Watering down many children,” Terri recalled.

A couple of days later, Chrissy, a bus driver known for her big smile, pulled up with a seemingly empty bus. She called out for Mark.

“He was met with windows full of children armed with squirt guns.”

They let him have it. No Northwest man has ever enjoyed getting shot at more.

The last day of school water fight in the park began the next year. The tradition has continued every year but twice — once due to cold weather (though several years it has rained), and once just prior to the store drilling a new well.

There is another important part of the event.

“Each year we remember former bus driver Chrissy with the big smile, who died at a young age of breast cancer 15 years ago.”

Terri said this year’s water fight, late last week, attracted more than 80 participants and observers, the most ever.

In a fitting tribute to Chrissy, smiles were abundant.

Today’s Slice question: What national park do you long to visit?