Music, food, friends and fun was the goal of the Water’s Edge festival Thursday night.

From 4 to 9 p.m. on Thursday Edgewater Park in Albert Lea was a place for people to gather and celebrate the end of the school year. Bands included Indiscrepancy, Riptide, A Sure Reminder, Mark This Day, Aiming for Aurora and Children 18:3. Jairo Campos also performed for the crowds.

“It’s a safe place for kids to come,” organizer Jon Dierenfeld said.

He likes that there’s a place for kids to come and hang out with friends and be sober. Dierenfeld said he also thought it was great how many people are involved, whether they’re volunteering or donating food, money and time.

“The city’s been awesome to work with,” Dierenfeld said.

Another organizer, Nick Erlandson, said this is the sixth year for the Water’s Edge festival, and many local churches get together to make the event possible.

“It provides something for young people to do,” Erlandson said.

There was also a variety of different music from bands that were asked to come back to the event, and from new bands who applied to play at the event. A Sure Reminder, made up of Albert Lea natives Trevor Olchefske, Tim Evans, Adam Evans and Matt Schumann, was one group that was asked to come back to the event after they played last year.

“We’re very excited to be asked to play in our hometown,” Schumann said. “Water’s Edge is great exposure and a good opportunity to expand our fan base.”

Each band gets to play about a half an hour, and Campos performed for about 10 minutes between the first few bands. Olchefske said they like to play at Water’s Edge because it’s not like every other concert venue.

“I do like playing outside,” Olchefske said. “The stage is pretty good sized.”

He also said it was nice to be asked back to the festival. One crowd member said he’d been coming to every Water’s Edge festival since they started.

“They’ve all be pretty consistent and fun,” Tom Delano said.

Another band playing at the festival was Riptide, made up of Albert Leans Ray Stephenson, Alex Nielsen, Mike Dyrdal, Tim Stoneking and Christian Andersen.

They described their music as rock and alternative. They’re all students at Albert Lea High School and were excited to have the chance to play at the event.

“We’re excited to give a good show,” Stephenson said. “It’s a blast.”

The free food included hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, cookies, bars, cotton candy, popcorn and mini doughnuts. About 150 people were at the event.