Saturday June 1 10AM to 5PM (RiverFest and Rendezvous)
Sunday, June 2, from 10AM to 4PM (Rendezvous only)
The Poudre RiverFest and Rendezvous will be located along the Poudre River at Heritage Park behind the Northside Aztlan Community Center in Fort Collins, just upstream from the original Fort.
The Run for the River
Friends of the Poudre is excited to present its newest RiverFest event, the Run for the River. A 5K footrace, the Run will weave through Old Town Fort Collins and finish at the festival site. All entrants receive a organic cotton long-sleeved Run for the River T-shirt.
$20 Pre-registration is available at Foot of the Rockies, Runner's Roost, and The Mountain Shop in Fort Collins. 7:30am Race Day registration is $23 (cash or check).
All proceeds benefit Friends of the Poudre. Timing and scoring provided by RunLimited.
Canoe & Kayak Races
A fixture of RiverFest, the paddling races celebrate river recreation on our great river. Any paddler with river running experience is invited to participate in the downriver fun races. The race features a LeMans start, and winds through our downtown river from Shields to Linden, water permitting. This stretch of river is classified as Class I-Class II, with one Class III drop.
On-site registration is from 10am-12noon. Cost is $10 for solo racers, $15 for tandem pairs. Canoes, kayaks, and rafts are welcome.
All proceeds benefit Friends of the Poudre. Organization is provided by Matt Evans at The Mountain Shop. Contact Matt at 970-493-5720 or info@themountainshop.com for more details.
The Procession of the River Species
The Procession of the River Species invites the Fort Collins area community to bring the wild to town! Transform yourself into a local native wildlife species by making masks and costumes, or join us to "drum" the flow of the river. We will form a procession, accompanied by drummers and rhythm instruments, which will dance, march, flow, fly or swim through old town and down to the Poudre River to join RiverFest on June 1st. It will start at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Oak Street Plaza at 1:15 PM and will arrive at Heritage Park at 2:00 PM. The procession will feature locals, maybe even you, dressed in masks and costumes, representing animals who need river and stream corridors to survive - including our native otter, kingfisher, osprey, trout, raccoon, fox, coyote, deer, fish, bugs, and others.
Become a river animal, samba in the streets, help preserve wildlife corridors.
For more information call 482-1216 or click www.procession-river-species.org. The Procession of the River Species is funded through the Nancy H. Gray Foundation for Art and the Environment, and FortFund.
RiverFest will include a Rendezvous Camp that will feature "living history" demonstrations to help us appreciate, imagine, and experience a bit of early western life in the 1800's. Each camp will demonstrate a skill or craft from the period and camp people will be dressed in clothing appropriate to the 1800's. The Rendezvous camp will be open both Saturday and Sunday.
The original Rendezvous camps occurred from approximately 1815-1845 when fur traders and mountain men populated the region and lived off a flourishing trade in beaver pelts. The original Camp Collins was located near the juncture of the historic Overland and Cherokee Trails near the present town of LaPorte and the Cache la Poudre River. In 1863 a flood forced the U.S. Army to abandon the camp and establish Fort Collins farther downstream. As more people moved in to the area the town of Fort Collins grew up around the original Fort.
River Rafting
Here's your chance to raft affordably on the downtown Poudre River. On this gentle run, you'll get the chance to experience the river corridor up close and personal. See a different, more natural side of our city.
Signup on-site for trips throughout the day. Cost is $10 for adults, $5 for children. Water permitting.
The town expanded around the Cache la Poudre River, which supplied it with drinking water for the growing community. Over the years since its discovery, the Cache la Poudre River flowed continuously through Fort Collins and has become ever more important as people have learned to additionally appreciate its value for paddlesports, fishing, birding, and a wide range of other recreational uses. The river also provides people with an important place for renewal and communion with nature, as well as being a critically important wildlife and biological corridor.
The 16th Annual RiverFest and Rendezvous is organized by two local non-profit organizations, Friends of the Poudre and Trees, Water, & People and the City of Fort Collins (Department of Natural Resources and the Parks Department). The Colorado State Forest Service and the Colorado Division of Wildlife are providing organizational support. Food sponsors and vendors include Avogadro's Number, Walrus Ice Cream, The Food Co-op, and Coopersmith's Pub and Brewing. Promotional sponsors include The Mountain Shop, New Belgium Brewing, the Downtown Development Authority, the Downtown Business Association, the Poudre Valley Health System, and Wheeler Commercial.
For additional information please contact Chuck Wanner, Friends of the Poudre, at (970) 482-0810, or Trees, Water & People at (970) 484-3678.
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