Welcome to the Rivers, Trails, & Ales Festival!  This Festival features all of Marietta’s most spectacular outdoor activities, plus downtown highlights, mapping them out for visitors and locals alike to explore and enjoy.  We hope that you will join us August 8-11, 2013.

The Rivers, Trails, & Ales Festival is a new kind of festival for our area.  RTAfest brings the community together to discover the reasons that Marietta is a top destination for outdoor adventure.  Premium road-cycling, sick mountain biking, and beautiful rivers and streams for paddling are just some of the highlights!  At the festival site, we share information about cycling and paddling and plan cycling and paddling routes for every level, throughout the day.  In the evening, everyone can join together again on the Armory lawn for games, demonstrations, and music.  Plenty of other activities will be happening in conjunction with the Festival: on Friday night in downtown Marietta, Merchants & Artists Walk will be in full swing, and the Mighty Muskingum River Raft Race is scheduled for Sunday afternoon.  And don’t forget to compete in the Tortoise and Hare World Championship Race – the trophies have only gotten more glorious each year!

Virtually all of downtown gets involved.  Community-minded restaurants sponsor Ohio-based microbrews and play host to live music. Locals and visitors alike are encouraged to cycle or paddle during the day, and then join back together in beautiful downtown Marietta to visit local shops and restaurants. We are thrilled to showcase Marietta as a destination location for the physically and socially active.

In our Festival program, you’ll find more about our mission and the aspects of our town that we hope to shine a spotlight on.  You’ll discover maps and activities for a full weekend’s worth of activities, and visitors will get a chance to see why we’re so proud of our vibrant downtown, which has restored itself over many years of effort.  Most of all, you’ll start to understand that while this Festival happens on a weekend in August, you can celebrate many — if not all — of its features year-round.

We hope that you join us for an exciting, full weekend of outdoor adventure & see why Marietta was named the #1 destination for outdoor adventure in Ohio!

We look forward to seeing you at the Festival!
Hallie Taylor
Ryan Smith
James Maddox