As the U.S. heads toward its 250th anniversary in July 2026, a festival on the Ohio River this fall will serve as one of the first big celebrations. America’s River Roots is a five-day shindig October 8-12 billed as an exploration of the culture, cuisine, and music that made the area’s river cities what they are today.
“We want to celebrate the people, whether they came here 250 years ago or 186 years ago at the time of emancipation or five years ago,” says Susan Fisher, executive director of the event that features Governors Mike DeWine of Ohio and Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, and former Ohio Senator Rob Portman as honorary advisory board co-chairs.
On paper, the festival resembles Tall Stacks, which had six iterations from 1988 through 2006. Fisher salutes that event but says there is a crucial difference. “This is not a riverboat festival with music, but a music, culture, and food and drink festival with riverboats. The world has changed since (Tall Stacks), and we have the opportunity to make the event more inclusive and broader in scope.”
In addition to eight free stages of music on both sides of the river, River Roots will have one ticketed venue for each day’s headliner (Weezer, pictured above, as well as Maren Morris, Mt. Joy, and more to be announced) and more than 185 riverboat cruises (starting at $20). The event will feature food from dozens of specialty vendors as well as classic Cincinnati providers such as Skyline Chili and Graeter’s and shine a light on Kentucky’s distilling history and Cincinnati’s brewing past and renaissance.
Education programs will spotlight the Freedom Journey, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and Black Music Walk of Fame. There will also be River Talks and Riverwalks on both sides of the river with an app explaining what happened where along the route. “(Local singer and arts activist) Kathy Wade is creating an interactive program called Sounds of the River to explain the river’s musicology from the diverse populations that traveled it,” Fisher says. “It will highlight the early drumbeats of Africa through the banjo and harmonica that led to blues, country, zydeco, and any number of sounds.”
Although the festivities officially begin on a Wednesday, two special events will prime the pump. On Saturday, October 4, volunteers for the Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) will clean the river banks on both the Ohio and Kentucky sides for five miles. Then on Tuesday John Morris Russell and the Cincinnati Pops will premiere an original piece of music at Music Hall to pay tribute to the festival’s arts supporters.
An impact study done by Northern Kentucky University projects River Roots will pump $150 million into the region’s economy. If that happens, can organizers wait another 250 years to host it again? “We do want to create a demand for this type of event to continue,” says Fisher. “I think there’s space for it. But let us do it once and then see where we stand.”