Pocatello’s annual Riverfest returns for another year

Pocatello’s annual Riverfest returned on Saturday for another year.

The Riverfest is put on by the Portneuf Greenway Foundation.

The event had live music, dozens of vendors, food and a few special dance numbers.The goal of Riverfest is to raise both money and awareness for the Greenway Foundation.

The foundation builds and revitalizes trails in Pocatello.

“You know the trails are really important to Pocatello because number one, they provide safe passage for people to ride their bikes, little kids to walk, they’re ADA accessible,” said Rory Erchul, president of the PGF. “It’s also another means of transportation and any big city that you can go to, anymore has some sort of greenbelt, greenway system and it’s an economic driver.”

Riverfest was held at Lower Ross Park for the second year in a row.

It was held in conjunction with Zoo Idaho’s Zoofari event, so both venues could share advertising costs and help support each other.

Erchul said with so many events happening in Pocatello and Chubbuck, it can be hard for people to decide which one to go to so by teaming up with Zoo Idaho, it can draw crowds to both events, rather than away from one another’s events.

Zoofari features ice cream cones, sundaes and all-you-can-eat ice cream, as well as lots of entertainment, including a pie eating contest.

The goal of the Greenway Foundation is to eventually have all the trails throughout Pocatello and Chubbuck connected together. So far, it has 15 of about 27 miles completed.