Portsmouth’s premier festival organization, Friends of Portsmouth, is ready to light up their stage for another successful concert series during the annual River Days event.

The group is known for hosting large festivals and events, from record-breaking achievements to Winterfest, Glocktoberfest and Festifall to Fourth of July and River Days. The group stays active all year long developing opportunities for downtown Portsmouth and the surrounding region.

River Days has been scheduled for September 1-3 and will feature carnival rides and games, merchants, food trucks and vendors, live music, a parade, the River Days Queen Pageant and more.

“River Days is about community. The parade, pageant; everything is about the community. It brings a lot of people out and visitors to the area,” Friends of Portsmouth Executive Director Bryan Smith said.

The music will feature Wild Son Entertainment at 7 p.m. on Friday, followed by Kentucky Headhunters at 9 p.m. on Friday.

“Kentucky Headhunters are full of action. These guys bring it every time they play,” Smith said. “They’re a regional favorite, by far, because these guys put on a great show. Anytime they’ve ever come here, they’ve brought out a large crowd. I think we’re going to have the largest crowd Friday night, which will be a great way to kick off the weekend. All of these guys are great.”

Silver Springs, a Fleetwood Mac Tribute Band, will continue festivities at 7 p.m. on Saturday, followed by Starship featuring Mickey Thomas at 9 p.m.

“Starship has multiple number one hits and I think they will carry the energy of Friday through the weekend,” Smith said. “I know we’ve had a lot of comments from people, as well as questions about the performance.”

Holly Forbes will be the final opening act of the festival at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, and Freebirds, a Lynard Skynard Tribute Band will close the function at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.

“I’ll be honest, we were just looking for good rock and soul. The entire lineup is rock and soul; we didn’t do country this year. We were looking at acts and found them and thought they would be a good way to finish the weekend.”

“We love our opening musical acts, too,” Smith explained. “The openers themselves bring a lot of uniqueness to River Days. We have a tribute band for Fleetwood Mac, and the other two acts have a lot of regional followers. The headliners are also great. I think this is our best show yet. I’m really excited about it and I look for great crowds every night.”

All musical acts have been moved from the riverfront to the Municipal Lot on the corner of Washington and 4^th Streets.

“In 2021, when we hosted it at this location, we had great attendance. Parking is closer and it is more accessible. Everything is so spread out on the river, and it is hard to manage,” Smith explained. “The attendance is also lower on the river. We think this is more user friendly. We had great attendance in 2021 and I’m really looking forward to it.”

To stay updated on events and information related to the organization, follow them on Facebook or visit their website at www.friendsofportsmouth.com To sponsor the event, ask questions, or contact someone at Friends of Portsmouth, email [email protected] or call 740.354.7711.

Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved.