Through November, RiverLink is partnering with Leap Frog Tours to bring back the RiverLink Bus Tours, monthly excursions along the French Broad River. Participants in the tours, which last about three hours, will hear stories of the river’s early days as well as accounts of current improvements and plans for the future. The route will include a stop at a restaurant and brewery.
“We are excited to forge partnerships like this one with Leap Frog Tours,” says RiverLink executive director Garrett Artz, who will lead the tours. “They run the logistics of the tour by providing transportation and scheduling. When they take these tasks off of our organization, we are able to operate more efficiently and focus on furthering our mission of the revitalization of the French Broad River Watershed.”
The Thursday tours promise an exploration of the history of the French Broad River from days when Native Americans roamed its banks to the time of the railroad and industrialization to the publication in 1950 of Wilma Dykeman’s The French Broad, a chapter of which pointed out the pollution and set off efforts to clean up the water. The history of the River Arts District and the monumental work that RiverLink and partnering organizations have accomplished in revitalization and a commitment to keeping the river clean and protected will also be highlighted during the tour.
“A portion of proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to RiverLink to support their efforts to clean, beautify and protect the river,” says Ann Smith, co-owner of Leap Frog Tours. “We’re so excited to help the RiverLink organization tell the story of our river—the French Broad River—that runs through Asheville and the River Arts District, that we see every day, that holds so much of our local history, that gives us such a connection to nature.”
To learn more or to reserve tickets, visit leapfrogtours.com. Tour dates are August 16, September 6, October 4 and November 1, with tours beginning at 10 a.m. Tickets are $45 per person. Food and beverage purchases are extra. To learn more about RiverLink, visit riverlink.org.
