Racers enter the water for the start of the 5,000-meter race during the July 2022 Cascade Lakes Swim Series and Festival at Elk Lake.

The annual open-water swim races held at Elk Lake schedule for Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week have been canceled.

The 29th Cascade Lakes Swim Series & Festival will not happen this year because of wildfires across the west and wind patterns bringing smoke into Central Oregon. The Cascade Lakes Swim Series & Festival planned to host five races during the three days.

“We had swimmers from British Columbia all the way down to Southern California enter,” Barb Harris said in an email to the Bulletin. “We didn’t want them to come all this way to have it canceled at the last minute.”

— Brian Rathbone