Fidalgo Pool and Fitness Center Director Marilyn Stadler will be too busy with all the other festival events to be in the swimming pool herself during the Dance with the Dolphins fundraiser. But by recruiting one of her sponsors to “dance” for her, she’ll be raising money just the same.

The dance is just one of many in and out of the water activities at this year’s Fidalgo Pool Festival from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 2, that will raise money for the center’s general building fund and Thunderbird Aquatic Club activities.

Other festival events will include a Swim-A-Thon, canoe relay race, drawings for prizes and an open swim party to top it all off.

The Swim-A-Thon, sanctioned by USA Swimming, will raise funds specifically for the aquatic club from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The club is hoping to raise $6,000 for new timing touch pads for their competitions. About 5 percent of the money raised will go to USA Swimming, which provides the pledge packets for the event.

New to the festival this year will be the canoe relay race that begins about 1 p.m. For a $100 donation to the club, relay teams of four people, two teams at a time, will race through the 70-yard triangular course marked with orange buoys. The winning team will receive a coveted broken paddle award.

From 2 to 4 p.m., participants will dance, swim or just all around play in the pool during the Dance with the Dolphins fundraiser. Through sponsorships, participants raise money for the facility’s building fund. The person who raises the most funds will win $500 donated by the Friends of Fidalgo Pool and Fitness Center, a nonprofit supporting the facility.

Parked outside the center during the daytime activities, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., will be a classic fire truck and about 30 vendors, who will donate 15 percent of the day’s profits to the facility and the club. Some of those already signed up for booths include Chriswood Chiropratic, Take Shape For Life and Felted Fantasies.

From 4 to 8 p.m., the pool will be open for the festival’s final event — the fun swim — to anyone making a $5 donation.

Dance with the Dolphins participant packets and more information on it and other events are at the facility’s front desk.

Or call 293-0673 or e-mail Stadler at .

Last year’s festival raised about $9,600 for the building fund and $5,000 for the aquatic club.