Peter Eshelman, the director of outdoor branding for the Roanoke Regional Partnership and the force behind the RoanokeOutside.com website, said the idea for the Go Outside Festival was hatched more than four years ago. “We wanted to have a festival where people could have the opportunity to check out mountain bikes,” Eshelman recalled recently. “Then we said why just limit it to mountain bikes? Lets grow it as a [complete] festival.”
And that’s what they did. Attendees at the most recent Go Outside Festival could check out those mountain bikes; they could also try a zipline, watch professional riders perform stunts on bicycles, listen to music, quaff a beer from Parkway Brewing or pick up information on the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Go Outside, organized with help from Roanoke City Parks and Recreation, was put together with what Eshelman calls “bits and pieces” from other festivals that those involved found most appealing. “It’s a celebration of everything outdoors . . . really designed to get people connected to the outdoors and engaged for a lifetime.”
There was tent camping on-site and several races, including a half marathon up nearby Mill Mountain and a “Wild Gear Chase” that was also an urban scavenger hunt of sorts. People could learn how to fly-fish and watch dogs leaping into a tank of water in pursuit of a tossed Frisbee. New experiences for many – or rekindling an old passion for the outdoors – “is really what this festival is all about,” said Eshelman. There was also live music from groups like the Hackensaw Boys to keep people entertained.
Roanoke City Manager Chris Morrill told City Council, at its most recent public meeting, that the numbers weren’t in yet but it appeared that attendance may have reached somewhere around 20,000 over the three days last week that the fourth annual Go Outside Festival – “Go Fest” for short – was held at River’s Edge. Morrill also said attendees came from a “wide region” and that once again the city had put its best foot forward.
“Hopefully people walk away saying, ‘Oh man, that was cool, I want to try that,’ . . . or they walk away with a piece of cheap gear,” said Eshelman about the free Go Outside Festival, which may have set an attendance record this time around.
By Gene Marrano
