St. Croix RiverFest Set for July 12-17

Plans are well underway for Hudson’s second RiverFest celebration that will take place July 12-17.  This year’s event has been expanded to include a wider range of activities designed to allow people of all ages to actively enjoy the Lower St. Croix River and all that it provides.  As with last year’s event, a large number of organizations and individuals have been working together to make “RiverFest:  A Party with a Purpose” a success.  The six-day event celebrates the river while also recognizing the need to preserve its health and beauty. 

The event will be kicked off with a “Family Fun Paddle Battle” race on the river at Troy Beach on Saturday morning.  Canoes, kayaks, Camp St. Croix’s Voyageur Canoes and other watercraft will be used in a loose and fun competition with trophies awarded for various categories.  A non-denominational celebration will be held in the Bandshell on Sunday morning with music provided by the St. Croix Sacred Ensemble followed by two separate bike events – a family oriented bike ride between ice cream shops in Hudson and Afton, and a tour of the St. Croix Crossing.

The primary events will take place during the week days that follow.  Interspersed throughout the week will be a wide variety of activities, including bird walks, raptor demonstrations, yoga in the park, a fishing demonstration, log rolling, paddle boarding, water safety classes, library talks, Native American dance, open houses, environmental displays, a second bike trip, arts classes, water walking, and rain barrel painting. 

The annual river bank clean-up will take place in both Hudson and North Hudson this year and, once again, the trash that is collected will be used to re-adorn the RiverFest mascot – Scrappy the Splashing Bass.  Scrappy is a steel armature sculpture that was created for the first RiverFest by Twin Cities artist Mary Johnson. Last year’s trash was removed and sorted into recyclables and trash by children during the St. Croix County’s Earth Day celebration to ready Scrappy for an entirely new look. 

Thursday evening’s culminating concert will feature the St. Croix Valley Community Band, under the direction of Kris Tjornehoj. The program will also feature, among others, poet Laurie Allmann and the Metro Brass. This fun-filled performance will include the first-time-ever arrangement for band instruments of the “St. Croix Suite”! 100 CDs of “The Saint Croix Suite” (as arranged for piano) will be given away at the event. Audience members – young and not so young – will be invited to participate in a piece or two during the drumming extravaganza.  All these fun activities will be enhanced with the waving of river sticks (made available at the event) at selected times during the evening. The music will be themed around the river.  Come early and visit the displays by non-profits dedicated to river awareness and “Scrappy” will be fully “re-dressed” and on display in time for the concert.  

There are several area activities in the works so visit www.stcroixriverfest.org to get the latest RiverFest schedule of events.  RiverFest is being made possible through a combination of local grants and sponsorships.