Keokuk’s 20th annual Rollin’ on the River Festival is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, August 15-16, in the city’s Victory Park located along the Mississippi River just below the Keokuk-Hamilton Bridge.

The event has been called “Iowa’s Best Fest by a Dam Site” and is now Keokuk’s longest running town festival.

Through the years, “Rollin’ on the River” has presented some of the finest in blues music, everyone from A to Z (Anson Funderburg to Buckwheat Zydeco).”

The first Rollin on the River Festival in 1989 featured Buddy Holly’s Crickets. In the second year, the festival moved downriver to Keokuk’s Hubinger Landing and featured a reunion of hometown bands. The third year, the festival received a grant from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, which gave organizers a needed financial boost and the blues was chosen as the primary music format.

The success of Keokuk’s Rollin’ on the River has directly led to similar types of events in the area: The Quincy Area Blues Fest in July, the Round Barn Blues in May and September, and Simply the Blues in early May. Because of Rollin’ on the River’s great location on the riverfront, professional staging, lighting, and sound, and history of great talent, festival organizers maintain, “we’re simply the best, better than all the rest.”

Come down, join the crowd and support your town’s music festival this August. You’ll be rockin’ and Rollin’ on the River front.

-Jim Wells