Rivers, Trails and Ales fest draws hundreds of visitors
Mountain bike participants get ready to hit the trail Saturday morning for the gravel ride at East Muskingum Park in Marietta as part of the annual Rivers, Trails and Ales Festival. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
Road bike and mountain bike riders gather for the various 10 a.m. group rides departing from Rivers, Trails and Ales Festival headquarters in Marietta’s East Muskingum Park on Saturday. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
Doug DeMille uses his E-bike and his 7-year-old son, Benjamin, rides his WeeRide CoPilot to participate in the Historic Bike Scavenger Hunt. Entrants were free to do the event on their own schedules, pedaling around Marietta and Harmar to track down historic details for their answer sheets. Prize winners were to be announced Saturday evening after the Tortoise and Hare competition. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
A group heads out for the mountain bike gravel ride Saturday morning at East Muskingum Park in Marietta during the annual Rivers, Trails and Ales Festival. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
Mountain bike participants get ready to hit the trail Saturday morning for the gravel ride at East Muskingum Park in Marietta as part of the annual Rivers, Trails and Ales Festival. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
Road bike and mountain bike riders gather for the various 10 a.m. group rides departing from Rivers, Trails and Ales Festival headquarters in Marietta’s East Muskingum Park on Saturday. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
Doug DeMille uses his E-bike and his 7-year-old son, Benjamin, rides his WeeRide CoPilot to participate in the Historic Bike Scavenger Hunt. Entrants were free to do the event on their own schedules, pedaling around Marietta and Harmar to track down historic details for their answer sheets. Prize winners were to be announced Saturday evening after the Tortoise and Hare competition. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
A group heads out for the mountain bike gravel ride Saturday morning at East Muskingum Park in Marietta during the annual Rivers, Trails and Ales Festival. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
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The Rivers, Trails and Ales Festival rolled through its second event-packed day Saturday, with events for all ages, skill levels and enthusiasms and visitors from throughout the region.
Festival Director Eric Dowler said it was difficult to estimate crowd figures because the group bike rides were the only events that required registration. However, he thinks Friday's attendance was above average and he expected they would probably reach record numbers for the Saturday morning group rides for mountain and road biking.
"It's all leading up to our biggest event, which is the Beer Festival later today," he said Saturday. "We're selling 500 tickets for it, but I expect there will probably be around a thousand attending."
The beer festival celebrates craft beers of Ohio, and 11 breweries from the region were slated to participate, with Oyo and Hominid performing live from 3 to 7 p.m.