Meet the Crew: Paddlefest 2026 volunteer award winners
Steve Greene, John Burr, the ParrotHeads & Owen Nyswonger
This year's Ohio River Paddlefest was our most successful yet, raising $140,000 to support our programs AND achieving a Guinness World Record!
Our largest community event simply would not be possible without countless hours of hard work by hundreds of dedicated volunteers. On August 11, we held our annual volunteer thank-you party to show our appreciation for their efforts. While ALL of their contributions deserve recognition, we singled out just a few folks who went above and beyond for our annual volunteer awards. This year's winners were Steve Greene, John Burr, the ParrotHeads (led by Patty Doak & Lynda Rahe) and Owen Nyswonger.
New to the Crew: Steve Greene. Steve's trademark kilt and upbeat personality carried him through a full weekend of Paddlefest volunteering, from Friday night Green Team to Mill Creek Saturday morning to cleanup at Gilday on Saturday afternoon.
"While watching the show on stage I caught out of the corner of my eye a trash picker slowly and subtly sneaking across a table to snag a cup without disturbing everyone's enjoyment of the programming," a volunteer who nominated him for the award told us. "Of course it was Steve at the other end of that picker! He gave of his time and skills in so many ways to help make Paddlefest a success this year, and did so with a smile and incredibly positive attitude!"
Steppin’ Up & Camping Out: John Burr. John has been a Paddlefest volunteer for a few years now (and serves as an Adventure Crew volunteer as well!). He took over the important role of managing Friday night camping check-in when our previous volunteer lead moved out of town. This year, he stepped up even more, bringing his camper and staying at Schmidt on Friday to make sure everything went smoothly overnight. He also help with setup and even ran errands on Friday and stuck around Saturday morning to help with teardown after the last paddlers were far down the river.
Birds of a Feather: The ParrotHeads, led by Patty Doak & Lynda Rahe. Like John, the ParrotHeads sleep on site Friday night, although they have a different starting point than most of us. They're up and at 'em before the sun comes up Saturday morning, helping sleepy paddlers navigate early morning parking at Gilday. Neither rain nor heat deters them from their parking duties as they ensure traffic flows as freely as the Ohio, making it easy for paddlers to load up their boats and head home.
Everything Everywhere All at Once: Owen Nyswonger. Joining the Mill Creek Alliance staff this year only seemed to redouble Owen's efforts as a Paddlefest volunteer. Not only was he with MCA on the creek Saturday morning, but he seemed to be everywhere all at once during the months leading up to Paddlefest and the weekend itself.
"Owen was a superb volunteer from beginning to end, starting with walking in the Northside July 4th Parade (clad in his Speedo and life vest to represent Paddlefest) and ending with him carrying cinder blocks up the hill on Saturday afternoon as the rest of us were at the point of exhaustion," another volunteer who nominated him for an award said. "But during Friday especially, there seemed like there were a half dozen Owens running around – manning booths, helping set up and take down, and even finding the time to represent his other organizations (Mill Creek Alliance/Mill Creek Yacht Club) as an exhibitor."
Thank you to all of our dedicated Paddlefest volunteers! We'd love for you to join their ranks next year!