The Whiskey Flat Days draws in thousands each each and to residents of Kernville and surrounding cities, it's the equivalent of their super bowl.

"That's exactly what it is," said Denise Peters, who is the woman behind Face Painting by Denise.

Peters and her husband have had to take on an abundance of odd jobs in the past years in order to survive.

Whiskey Flats "is the one weekend that I can actually make $50, instead of $10," explained Peters.

Cheryl Borthick, the President of the Kernville Chamber of Commerce understands Peters' story isn't unusual and that the drought that affected many Kern River Valley residents. 

"It's been the last 5 years that we have really suffered through the drought, and especially like 4 years they had a little water rafting last year, but not much."

Rafting season has also been underwhelming through the years. 

"The whole lake has really slowed down. Boating traffic has been very slow, tourism has been slow throughout the valley," said Michael Sullivan, owner of Red's Kern Valley Marina.

Sullivan has noted a raise on water levels, and looks forward to a great boating season.

"To have the snow pack come back like this year, everybody should be happy to have a nice big lake this year," Sullivan said.