RIVERFEST GEARS UP FOR START; ALCOHOL RESTRICTED AT THIS YEAR'S EVENT

Plan to leave the coolers at home and the beer in the beer garden for this year's Riverfest.

Beer drinking won't be allowed outside of the beer gardens at this year's Riverfest.

Coolers are also marked this year. Festival-goers won't be allowed to bring them on the grounds either.

Riverfest is Friday and Saturday. Activities run Friday from 4 to 11 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to the final event, an evening concert by river pilot and musician John Hartford. Hartford will perform around 9:30 p.m., after the fireworks display.

Riverfest Publicity Chairman Jay Wolz said the restriction on beer drinking this year goes along with the Riverfest Association's desire to keep the celebration a family event. It also conforms with Cape Girardeau's open-container law that bars people from bringing the containers into the streets.

For the first time, Riverfest organizers plan to strictly enforce the open-container law. Wolz said organizers are trying to "get the word out" about the restrictions on alcoholic beverages.

"In the past, there had been some (circumstances) of open containers on the grounds outside the licensed establishments, and this year we're going to try to avoid that situation," he said. "It's nothing more than going along with the open-container law."

The beer gardens this year will be situated on the parking lots at Broadway and Water streets and Themis and Water streets. Local entertainers will perform at the Broadway beer garden.

Wolz was one of about 30 volunteers who worked Sunday on the Cape Girardeau downtown area to get a head start on preparations for Riverfest.

"We were doing a lot of this stuff last year the night before Riverfest. So we're that much ahead of the game."

By mid-afternoon Sunday, the workers were in the process of setting up a fence along Water street that blocked the street off from the railroad tracks adjacent to the city's floodwall. Other volunteers, made up of Union Electric employees and local electricians, worked on needed electrical preparations, said Riverfest Association General Chairman Johnny Ray Conklin.

Workers filled sandbags that will be used to help hold tend ropes in place. The ropes will be connected to 2-by-2-foot pieces of wood, on which the sandbags will be piled.

Conklin said the workers wouldn't be able to get as much done if all the preparations had been put off until just before Riverfest. "During the week, these restaurants are open and these parking lots are full," he said, "and we don't have the time to set it up."

This year for the first time, Riverfest will feature a riverboat. The paddle wheeler will be docked at the Cape Girardeau riverfront and will offer one-hour and longer special cruises. The cruises will be offered Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The boat is the Spirit of St. Charles. Though named after its home port, the boat will be known as the "Boatmen's Spirit of Riverfest" during the celebration. Its sponsors are Boatmen's Bank of Cape Girardeau and Zimmer Broadcasting, said Wolz.

Advance tickets are still available for most cruises. The boat's cruise from Ste. Genevieve on Thursday is sold out, however.

One-hour cruises cost $6 for adults and $4 for children 12 and under. Tickets for some cruises can be purchased at Boatmen's Bank at a $2 discount.

Wolz said tickets can be purchased at Boatmen's Bank facilities and at the Show Me Center. However, tickets purchased at the Show Me Center carry a 75-cent service charge.

"We'll also have tickets available here at Riverfest itself," Wolz said. "But if people want to be sure to get the cruise they want, we're encouraging them to go for the advance tickets."

Entertainment will be provided on the cruises, Wolz said. Most of the cruises will feature Miz Music, the boat's regular, three-woman combo.