ROANOKE, Va. – The fun and excitement of Roanoke’s GO Fest is moving downtown.
Stretching from Elmwood Park to Market Square, the streets in between will be filled with vendors, stunt shows, beer gardens, live music and more.
“The annual Go Outside Festival is basically a celebration of everything related to the outdoors,” said Julia Boas with the Roanoke Regional Partnership, a group that helps put on the festival.
The reason for the move is to avoid damaging the new multi-million dollar fields at River’s Edge and bring the crowds downtown.
“Let’s celebrate things that you can do 365 days of the year, as opposed to just one day of the year and help support these businesses that are here for us all year long,” said Boas.
Three Notch’d is just one of many downtown restaurants participating.
“It’s nice to see that coming out of COVID, everybody is kind of collaborating and putting their pieces together to make something better happen out of a tough situation,” said Emily Laney, the general manager of Three Notch’d.
But with thousands of people flooding the streets, drivers need to know which streets will be closed and where to park. There are several large parking garages available downtown and a few free options.
GO Fest is also adding 10 to 12 bike racks for folks to cycle into town.
If you’re driving, beware of several street closures: including Wall and Market Streets, Franklin Road, and Campbell Avenue.
“There are added challenges and we hope that people will appreciate that and take any kind of little hiccups with a grain of salt because it’s really hard to plan events at this time,” said Boas.
GO Fest runs Friday, Oct. 15 through Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
For a list of street closures and parking restrictions, click here.
You can view downtown parking that is always available on www.downtownroanoke.org.