Nearly 200 Roanokers got their float on in the Roanoke River for the sixth annual Floatilla by Roanoke Outside and Get2KnowNoke.
Lindsey Hull
Roanokers gather in the Roanoke River during the sixth annual Floatilla.
The passing rain and rising humidity didn’t deter the approximately 200 Roanokers who grabbed their floats, kayaks, and paddleboards and jumped into the Roanoke River Wednesday evening.
Roanoke Outside and Get2KnowNoke held the sixth annual Floatilla on July 12. The midweek scheduling did not appear to negatively impact attendance. Folks came out in hoards to float down Roanoke’s waterway, which in 2022 was presented the Reader’s Choice Travel Award for Best Urban Kayaking Spot by USA Today.
“It’s a lot of fun!” says Molly Brown of Boulder, Colorado, who was in town visiting friends during the event. She and Dustin Eshelman floated down the river together, alongside other friends on river tubes and paddleboards. That sentiment was echoed up and down the river, as people floated by on anything that would hold air.
“Last year, I used a regular pool float,” observer Taylor Richardson remembered. The float dipped into the water a little bit, and he wound up wet. “My float worked,” Richardson’s son Eli added.
Memories like these make the Floatilla a recurring tradition for some. Julia Boas took her eldest son Bradford to the event. Boas had just finished pumping up a large inflatable kayak for the float. “You can have a little more control with where you go,” she explained. “This isn’t [Bradford’s] first time, but he’s a little more opinionated now,” she says with a laugh.
Boas is the director of talent strategies for Get2KnowNoke, which is the Roanoke Regional Partnership’s talent attraction brand.
The Floatilla was first organized by Roanoke Outside and PLAY Roanoke in 2018. One of its major draws is that the event has a low threshold for entry. There is no charge to participate. Folks just need to grab something that floats, show up, and hop in.
The float begins at Roanoke Mountain Adventures in Wasena Park and ends at Starr Hill Pilot Brewery & Side Stage at The Bridges. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to float that part of the river, according to Roanoke Outside Foundation director Pete Eshelman.
This year, participants arrived with everything from inflatable kayaks and river tubes to floating horses and colorful rainbow-topped floats. Several people brought large lake loungers, with room enough for everybody.
“Anybody who wants to join in on the fun is welcome to,” Eshelman says. One of the cool things about the Floatilla, he says, is that people from all different walks of life come out and enjoy the river together.
“Everything we do is about partnerships,” Eshelman says, regarding Get2KnowNoke’s involvement with this year’s Floatilla – both Roanoke Outside and Get2KnowNoke are Roanoke Regional Partnership initiatives. “Get2KnowNoke’s goal is to connect people with everything that’s happening in our community.”
Onboard ROA is one of the ways that Get2KnowNoke works to connect Roanokers with community events. It is a summertime program for Roanoke Valley interns and young adults who are hoping to learn more about the region. Onboard ROA participants enjoyed a technology talks panel at Starr Hill before heading upstream for the float. Boas hopes that the Floatilla and other events will show Onboard ROA participants that Roanoke is an interesting and unique place to live. “This is something that makes Roanoke special,” she says.
The Floatilla serves to highlight one of the city’s best assets, Boas explained. “[Before 2018], people didn't look at the river and think ‘oh, that's a place for me to recreate.’” Boas says. “This was an effort to try to change that idea.”
The river’s changing perception is also affecting the way developers and project managers approach the city, according to Boas. “For so long, people built the backs of their buildings facing the river. Now, [developers] are incorporating [the view] into apartment complexes. Roanoke is also developing assets like the in-river kayak park,” Boas says.
Aaron Ewert echoes that sentiment. “We are seeing a real synergy along the river [and] greenway with businesses like Roanoke Mountain Adventures and The Green Goat in Wasena, [and] down the river to the kayak launch [at The Bridges], Starr Hill, and Dr. Pepper Park,” the business leader and outdoor enthusiast says. Ewert was project manager for The Bridges development and also personally oversaw the construction of the nearby kayak launch.
Roanoke Mountain Adventures stayed open late on Wednesday to rent tubes to Floatilla participants. General manager Jeff Raines estimated that they would rent about forty tubes that evening— he had them all inflated and ready to go. That’s close to the number he rents on a busy weekend day.
“On a holiday or a day with great weather, we might sell out,” he says, indicating that hopeful floaters should rent their tubes in advance. On a typical day he usually sees 50-60 rental customers, Raines says. “This is a fun section of the river. It is approachable with a couple of fun rapids. It isn’t intimidating, like a float on the New River,” he added.
“I love seeing the river just full of people. Ten years ago, hardly anybody was on the river and now people are getting out there and utilizing it. That's what we want to see happen,” Eshelman says.