What began as a group of local friends that wanted to have a water balloon fight has now escalated into an all-out battle that benefits the Santa Clarita Food Pantry.

Dozens of Santa Clarita residents made their way to the Valencia Valley Park Sunday afternoon to engage in the “Wet Offensive,” an annual water balloon war that supports a Santa Clarita charity.

Local residents Ernie Stone and Matthew Mcgeehan said that they’ve been organizing this event for six years now, and for little over a decade they’ve seen their event — which started as just a couple of friends wanting to have some fun — steadily grow from water balloons impacting their friends, to water balloons impacting their community.

“We started with just 10 people that wanted to have a water balloon fight,” Mcgeehan said .

“We realized we could grow this and we pushed ourselves every year.”

Since they first began organizing the public-event, Stone and Mcgeehan have led their “troops” into battle against one another, using “munitions” that were provided and filled by the participants themselves.

“Last year we had 140 people and threw over 15,000 balloons,” according to the Facebook page set up for the event. “Then we gave canned food to the SCV Food Pantry and chowed down on Italian ice afterwards like the patriots we were.”

And every year, the patriotic duo come up with a new name that sets the theme for that year’s battle. The 2018 event, “The Wet Offensive,” was a Vietnam War skirmish that pitted American forces against Hippies and Vietcong in all-out H20 combat.

Ernie Stone proudly painted the yellow star of the North Vietnamese flag on his chest before the “conflict” began in order to identify his chosen side during the battle.

Overall, the water balloon fight event saw thousands of balloons used, but, more importantly, helped gather over 600 canned goods that had been donated by participants.

The family event offers an opportunity for everyone of all ages to participate and encourages anyone to come out and have fun, according to event organizers.

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