Downtown Orlando gets 'Soaked' with watersports festival

Lake Eola event features athletes, concerts

ORLANDO, Fla. – If you're passing through downtown Orlando this weekend, you may notice more than just the swans will be swimming in Lake Eola.

The Soaked Extreme Watersports Festival is in town Friday and Saturday bringing waterskiiers and wakeboarders from all over the country to compete for their share of $100,000 in prize money.

Preliminaries started Friday morning, with events continuing throughout the day and into the night. Musical appearances include Travie McCoy at 10 p.m. Friday and Breathe Carolina at 10 p.m. Saturday.

To see a full schedule and artist lineup, click here.

Tickets are on sale for $10 on Friday, $15 on Saturday or a weekend pass for $20. Event organizers expect thousands of people to attend and the athletes say the pressure is building.

"It's been a long summer, a lot of build up a lot of anxiety for this event and we are glad it's here," said athlete Freddy Krueger. "The jumping especially under the lights is going to be exciting, got some great bands coming in to entertain, just constant motion."

The city of Orlando is hoping tens of thousands of people will come out to watch an event they've never seen at Orlando's historic landmark.

"It's great, I know it's the first one-they should continue to have these from now on," said resident Tom Lodge.

The Lake Eola swans have been rounded up and moved to a safe location until the event is over.

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