09/30/2026
River Vibes is fun. There’s music, food, art, paddling and a lot of laughing. But underneath all of that, there’s a much bigger reason we keep doing this.
The Little Miami has more than 50 years of conservation history behind it—and if we’re being real, 1,000’s of years with the Fort Ancient history we are lucky to share. There are people who spent decades protecting this river, organizing, advocating and building the organizations that still exist today. The reason we have a scenic river corridor like we do is only because of these efforts. When you learn the stories, you understand! Our conservation history on this river rivals any in the nation. Many of those people are retired now, but they’re still here. They have stories, knowledge and experience that shouldn’t disappear.
At the same time, there’s a whole new generation of people falling in love with this river and wanting to protect it.
We need to connect those people.
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We need to learn from the people who came before us, pick up the reins, and find new ways to carry the work forward.
That’s really what River Vibes is about. Bringing together people who might otherwise never end up in the same room…or on the same riverside. Conservation organizations, government folks, musicians, artists, naturalists, business owners, volunteers, longtime activists, and people who simply love this place.
We come together through music, food, art, cleanups and time on the river. Those things give us a reason to gather. The connections we make while we’re there are the point. We enjoyed nourishing food from our friends down the trail Sun Sprouts Cafe as well as amazing potluck options from the commUnity! It’s always fun to see what comes this time of year 😋
There is so much good work already happening along the Little Miami. The goal isn’t to create another silo. It’s to connect the dots. And this year’s meet and greet was a wonderful opportunity to do that.
And hopefully, when the people who have carried this work for decades are ready to hand it off, there are people standing there ready to take it.
Thanks to Ron Metzger and Rebecca Perry from the Little Miami Watershed Network, Matt Latham with Warren County Parks, Hongmei Li Barclay from Central State University and Howard Zuefle from the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute as well as all the artists and musicians who spoke at our RiverVibers “open mic” meet and greet! Here are a few clips of what they had to share! Thanks to Peter Crescimanno with the Ano Project for organizing the flow of speakers and music.
And thanks to all who joined the morning trail and river cleanups with Yak Shack and The Arrow Outpost and for the H2Ohio grant funding that made this possible.
