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Orange Is The New Black Makes an appearance at Anything That Floats Parade | Photo Courtesy of RiverLink

RiverLink 20th Annual Riverfest August 8th

RiverLink Celebrates 20th Annual RiverFest Featuring the Anything That Floats Parade at French Broad River Park

RiverLink invites everyone to their biggest party of the year. The 20 plus year  annual RiverFest happens at French Broad River Park on Saturday, August 8 from 1 p.m. – 7 p.m., but the fun starts with the Anything That Floats Boat parade launch at 11 am at Hominy Creek Park.

The highlight of the event is the Anything that Floats Parade. Groups  building watercraft of all kinds have an opportunity to show off their creativity and their cause and have a blast.  Participants can construct their vessels out of anything they can find that floats and parade them by the festival grounds. The only rules are that they must float and must be powered by wind, solar or our own herculean strength – no motors allowed — and be removed from the festival grounds upon completion of the race.  Folks who don’t have time to build a “Yacht”   can be on the river that day — rent a tube and enjoy the festivities from the water.

A registration form and information are available at http://riverlink.org/register-now-anything-floats-parade/

The Prestige Subaru Stage will also offer live music, with variety acts between musical acts. Judges for the Anything That Floats Boat Parade  include WLOS anchor Frank Krocker, Answer Woman for the Asheville Citizen Times Casey Blake and former WLOS personality and local celebrity Suzanne Hudson.

Schedule of Events:

11:00 Put-in for Anything that Floats rafts begins at Hominy Creek Park
1:00 RiverFest begins at French Broad River Park, where the raft parade floats by
1:15 Kids Parade/Jugglers Forty Fingers & A Missing Tooth
1:45 Music: Infinity Vortex
2:30 Claire Dima, Bellydancer
3:00 Music: Caro Mia
3:45 Asheville Aerial Arts
4:00 Music: Ashley Heath
5:00 Announcements of raft race winners
5:10 Music: Sun Cans
7:00 See y’all next year

All day long this is a family-friendly event and RiverFest offers lots of fun for kids of all ages,with face-painters, art supplies, hoola hooping, juggling and craft booths. Kids can ride, skate, walk, run, and skip in costume in the Kids Parade, which starts at 1.

A variety of local food trucks will offer vegetarian and meat-loving options. This year food truck food court includes Vieux Carre, The Real Food Truck, Latino Heat, Smash Box and ice cream from Sunshine Sammies. There will be beer from Sierra Nevada.

To ease parking woes, RiverLink will be offering shuttle service from a satellite parking are at 144 Riverside Drive, the property known as The RiverLink Sculpture and Performance Plaza (map).

Volunteers are still needed to make this a fun and successful event! In exchange for their time and hard work, volunteers receive a free t-shirt and a free drink per shift. Those interested in volunteering should sign up at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4caea82ba1f49-riverfest1 or contact RiverLink’s Director of Volunteer Services, Dave Russell, at volunteer@riverlink.org or 252-8474, ext. 11.

About River Link

RiverLink is a regional non-profit spearheading the economic and environmental revitalization of the French Broad River and its tributaries as a destination for everyone to work, live and play.

RiverLink accomplishes its mission by providing permanent public access to the river through conservation and recreation easements, reclaiming contaminated lands for public use and enjoyment, greenway development, creating public no-fee, no-reservation overnight camping sites along the river, adaptive reuse of historic structures, educating 5,000 students K-12 annually as well as the public-at-large about the French Broad River watersheds’ importance and empowering over 1,700 volunteers each year.

RiverLink was established in 1987 and is the only French Broad River watershed non-profit exclusively focused on the French Broad River.

One comment

  1. dwcurt@charter.net'

    Is RiverFest pet friendly?