Former Olympians to 'Meet & Greet' Mercer Island at Mercerdale Park

The 2012 Mercer Island Summer Celebration! Festival is an Olympic themed festival and will include former United States Olympians, "Wacky Olympic" audience shows, and a fun, zany version of Olympic festivities with challenges and activities.

The Mercer Island Parks and Recreation Department will be creating an "Olympic Village" in Mercerdale Park next to the skate park in downtown Mercer Island during the Summer Celebration! Festival on July 14 and 15. Former United States Olympians will ride in the community parade and then host a "meet and greet" at 11:30 a.m. with festival attendees. The following Olympians will be participating:

    •    Jon Root was a member of the gold medal winning men's volleyball team at the 1998 Seoul Olympics. Jon was a 3 time All American athlete while playing volleyball at Stanford University and finished his volleyball career in the Italian Volleyball Professional League.
    •    Mary Wayte-Bradburne (from Mercer Island) won several medals at two Olympics (1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul) for swimming. Mary also swam and won medals in many international competitions including the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela.
    •    Joe McVein was a member of the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Men's Olympic Handball team.Joe was a member of the United States Men's National Team for nearly 10 years and has competed in a total of 135 International games.
    •    Samantha Magee was an Olympic medalist in rowing at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Samantha also won a gold medal at the Rowing World Championships in Munich in 2007.

Each Olympian will talk briefly of their Olympic experiences, pose for photos and sign autographs during this meet and greet. The Mercer Island Summer Celebration! Festival is a 2012 "Olympic Day" official event through the United States Olympic Committee.
 
Wacky Olympics

The Mercer Island Parks and Recreation Department will be hosting "Wacky Olympic" shows on the Olympic stage in the Olympic Village multiple times per day. The audience can participate in a variety of "Minute to Win it" type challenges. Show times are Saturday at 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

There will also be inflatable games & challenges that are free for participants. Activities include: human fooseball, robo surfing, golf chipping competition, strong man hammer challenge, dunk tank and more. The top scores and times will be posted on leader boards at each challenge and participants may participate as many times as they want throughout the festival weekend to try to defend their spot on the leader board.