Sunshine, Skydives, and Lucky Ducks: LakeFest 2025 is About to Make a Splash!�

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a picture-perfect lake meets small-town charm and a whole lotta fun… welcome to LakeFest 2025. This May 23rd and 24th, grab your crew, your paddleboard, your sense of adventure, and meet us at Chipley Park on Circle Drive in DeFuniak Springs, right on the edge of one of the world’s onlyperfectly round spring-fed lakes.�

Friday kicks off at 11AM with the kind of Southern lunch that dreams are made of — the VFW Post 4437 Fish Fry. Think crispy fish, golden fries, hushpuppies, beans, and slaw. Basically, everything tastes better when you’re eating it lakeside under a oak tree.

By noon, primitive camping opens for the vendors, sponsors, and folks who want to wake up with the ducks (the real ones, not the inflatable ones). Vendors start setting up around 5PM, and the LakeFest Stage comes alive at 6PM with live music byNational Recording Artists. Straight from the Tim Jackson’s Storytellers Tour, these are the kind of songwriters who’ll make you want to dance, cry, and call your mama.�

But it doesn’t stop there. At 8PM, look up. That’s not your cousin trying out a drone — it’s theAll American Skydiving Team, dropping in like rockstars, followed by the glowing hydro-flight wizardry ofBen Merrell lighting up the lake with his jet-powered water acrobatics. Somehow, there are fireworks involved. This we have to see!�

Then go home. Or back to your tent. You’re gonna need your energy.

Saturday, May 24th is what we like to call “let’s squeeze every last drop of awesome into one day” day.

Things kick off at10AM with theOpening Ceremonies — Mayor Bob Campbell will have the mic, the colors will be presented, and the National Anthem will ring out across Lake DeFuniak like a postcard. And of course, the local queens will make their grand entrance, from LakeFest to Walton County royalty.

From there, it’s all go:

• 11AM: Line dancing from the Life Enrichment Senior Center (because fun doesn’t have an age limit)
• Noon: The wildly entertaining Cardboard Boat Races begin. Yes, these are exactly what they sound like — hand-crafted cardboard vessels, captained by the brave, floating (for better or worse) behind the amphitheater.
• 1PM: Inflatable Duck Races, because tiny rubber ducks with numbers on their bellies deserve a moment in the sun too.
• 2PM: Experience Wake with pro wakeboarder Andrew Adkison, who’ll remind you that your balance on a paddleboard is… still a work in progress.
• 2:15PM: Award time! Lucky Ducks, Best in Show Cars (from the Car Show under the Oaks, sponsored by the always-yakkin’ Krewe de Yak), and a whole lot of bragging rights go flying at the LakeFest Stage.
• 3PM: The LakeFest Parade, narrated by the one-and-only Andy Avery, cruises around Circle Drive in all its hometown glory.

Vendors will keep the good stuff flowing until about4:30PM, and the park wraps by6PM (don’t forget to clean up your area — Lake DeFuniak deserves our respect).

Whether you’re here for the skydivers, the live music, the fried fish, or just a reason to spend the day by the water with your family,LakeFest 2025 is where Walton County summer begins.

Pack a chair. Bring a paddle. Find your duck. We’ll see you on the Circle!