Steamboats, national music acts, food and more to be featured at Tall Stacks-like festival

CINCINNATI — A new, but not-so-new event is coming to the riverbanks of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky in 2025.

America's River Roots — a concept that will feel very familiar to many Tri-Staters — will take place on the Ohio River October 9-12 in 2025, officials announced Wednesday at a press conference.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, Hamilton County Commissioner Alicia Reece were among the officials announcing the event, as well as event co-chairs Rick Greiwe, Tim Fogarty and Kelly Kolar.

America's River Roots will be "centered on the Ohio River." The festival is intended to kick off the 250th birthday of the United States, which happens in 2026, since Cincinnati is a host city. Because of this, organizers are expecting the event to bring in hundreds of thousands of attendees, as well as millions of dollars for the region.

The festival will have live music, with Bryce Dessner of rock band The National curating performers. The National, which is made up of Cincinnati natives, is set to perform.

The lineup also features Kathy Wade, an award-winning jazz singer, officials announced Wednesday.

The Purple People Bridge will also be transformed into a food market for the festival.

Similar to the blast-from-the-past festival Tall Stacks Music, Arts, and Heritage Festival, America's River Roots will have 12 steamboats take part in the festival to celebrate Cincinnati, which at one point was the steamboat capital of the world.

Captain Alan Bernstein, who owns BB Riverboats, recruited the 12 boats taking part in next year's event. The dozen boats also includes the only three operating commercial steamboats in the country.

"Recently it's never been done, and they'll be racing on Sunday," Bernstein said. "It's the big featured event, the three steamboats, and it's going to be a very neat race."

Bernstein said each of the boats will be themed, incorporating music, food and culture into their river tours.

Overall, the event will have a similar feel to Tall Stacks. Tall Stacks was first held in 1988 to celebrate Cincinnati's bicenntennial, where Greiwe served as executive director of the celebrations. That festival drew national attention and more than 700,000 people crowded into the riverfront during the three-day event, which featured historic riverboats and brought a late-18th-century feel to the riverfront.

Held in October that year, the first Tall Stacks was so successful — with a Xavier University study at the time claiming it created an economic impact of $30 million — it was brought back and subsequent festivals were held in 1992, 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2006.