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Participants paddle along the Provo River Delta into Utah Lake during the annual Paddle With Care event Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Courtesy Kim Boylan Ray

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Paddlers prepare to take to the water during the Utah Lake Authority's annual Paddle With Care event Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Courtesy Kim Boylan Ray

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A picture of 18-year-old Priscilla Bienkowski, who was reported missing from Utah Lake on May 6, 2020.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

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A picture of 17-year-old Sophia Hernandez, who was reported missing from Utah Lake on May 6, 2020.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

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Participants paddle along Utah Lake during the annual Paddle With Care event Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Courtesy Utah Lake Authority

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In this photo taken Saturday, May 17, 2025, Kim Ray, of Paddle With Care, poses for a photo during the water safety festival with the families of Priscilla Bienkowski and Sophia Hernandez, who drowned in Utah Lake in 2020.

Courtesy Kim Boylan Ray

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As the upcoming Memorial Day weekend arrives — one that many consider to be the unofficial start to summer — the Utah Lake Authority in partnership with a local organization is spreading awareness about the importance of water safety.

On Saturday, participants launched into the water from the Provo River Delta, which connects to Utah Lake, via kayak, canoe or paddleboard.

The event, titled Paddle With Care, serves as a water safety festival, aiming to raise awareness of the importance of life jackets and a remembrance of those who have lost their lives on Utah Lake.

Turning tragedy into an educational opportunity

Saturday’s event came five years after Priscilla Bienkowski and Sophia Hernandez drowned in Utah Lake.

In early May 2020, 18-year-old Bienkowski and 17-year-old Hernandez went missing from the Knolls area of Utah Lake hours before a catastrophic storm hit. After more than a week of rigorous search efforts, their bodies were recovered near Lincoln Beach marina, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.

Neither of the girls were wearing life jackets at the time of their disappearances, authorities said.

The tragedy united both of the girls’ families together to advocate for a life jacket station near the lake in honor of the girls and to help prevent future drownings.

In 2021, the Utah Lake Commission (presently known as Utah Lake Authority) secured enough funding to launch its life jacket loaner program.

“And so we took that idea, made it happen, and then also decided to expand it, and we now have seven life jacket loaner stations at various (Utah Lake) access points,” said Heather McEwen, events and programs coordinator for the Utah Lake Authority.

Shortly after, Kim Ray, a Utah County resident who learned about the two girls who drowned and the new life jacket loaner program, proposed the idea of a water safety festival to the commission.

Thus the “Paddle With Care” event was born, which is also the name of Ray’s organization.

“We just kind of wanted to put a smile back over Utah Lake,” she told the Daily Herald.  “Come out and have your own experience, and then support the families (of the two girls).”

Ray said when she moved to Utah in 2019 from Ireland, most of what she’d heard about Utah Lake wasn’t positive. Her organization aims to uplift people’s perception about it and educate the community about water safety.

“We just want to get the community out there,” she said. “Paddling the water is healing. It’s a place of peace.”

Building community with a cause

McEwen said roughly 40 paddlers participated in the event.

The memorial route honoring the lives lost on the lake featured a “family-friendly course on the water making it accessible and enjoyable for paddlers of different skill levels.”

She added the event was held this year at the Provo River Delta as a way to highlight the recent restoration project.

Utah County Search and Rescue also offered safety training before the launch and assisted paddlers in need on the water.

Saturday’s event included a fundraiser for the life jacket loaner program. Utah Lake Authority wants to add more stations at different access points.

Joshua Holt, a ranger for Utah State Parks and Recreation who died earlier this year, was also honored for his dedication to water safety.

With the summer months approaching, McEwen stresses the importance of taking the appropriate precautions when planning to visit the lake, such as wearing life jackets, alerting family members of your whereabouts when planning to visit the lake, and not going alone.

“I don’t care how good of a swimmer you are, we are always wanting people to wear their life jackets,” McEwen said. “Tell people where you’re going and when you plan to come back so they can keep track of you. And try to go to the lake with someone else.”

For more on Utah Lake’s life jacket loaner program, visit utahlake.gov/lifejackets.