10/20/2026
Come see Us and all the Other Vendors at this great event!😎✌️
Riverfront Fall Festival Goes All In on the Blues for the 100th Anniversary of the Blues Highway (US 61)
This year the Riverfront Fall Festival leans into its roots. As U.S. Highway 61 — the Blues Highway — marks 100 years since its designation in 1926, the Festival celebrates Cape Girardeau's place on that legendary road with a full day of blues on Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM at the Boardman Hutson Pavilion Lot (Missouri Wall of Fame Lot), Independence and Main Streets. Admission is free.
Designated in 1926, Highway 61 runs with the Mississippi River from Minnesota to New Orleans, linking Memphis, St. Louis, and Chicago. During the Great Migration, musicians carried blues north along its pavement — past river towns, rail lines, steamboats, jukes and county fairs — turning it into the Blues Highway. Cape Girardeau sits right in the middle of that corridor, where southern traditions met Midwestern stages, and where travelers, riverboat circuits, and roadhouses helped carry the music forward.
Earlier this year, the Missouri House recognized a century of the Blues Highway with a resolution presented to Visit Cape, honoring Highway 61's importance to Cape Girardeau and Missouri. Visit Cape is marking the centennial with murals, exhibits, concerts, and heritage tourism — and the Riverfront Fall Festival is the fall centerpiece.
Festivalgoers will hear that history live on the Main Stage, emceed by Kirby Ray from River Radio:
- 11:15 AM – 12:30 PM: Steve Schaffner and the Jumper Cables — high-energy opener right after the pumpkin-pardon opening ceremony with Mayor Robbie Guard
- 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM: Paper Street Blues Band (featuring Jamie Gooch) — a brand-new Cape collaboration of The Space Grapes and The Amber Vandeven Band, fronted by powerhouse vocalist Amber Vandeven with soulful blues, gritty rock, and jam improvisation
- 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Mike Aguire & The Blu City All Stars — St. Louis-style blues groove
- 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM: Bruce Zimmerman and the Water Street Band — hometown blues-rock named for the very street the Festival calls home
- 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM: Ivas John Band — Cape Girardeau-based roots musician and musician's musician, from electric Chicago blues to acoustic flatpicking; 1,000+ shows, BB's Jazz Blues & Soups residency, Good Days A Comin' nominated for Blues Blast Magazine's Acoustic Album of the Year
From tight blues-rock grooves to extended jams, from country blues storytelling to full-band electric sets, the lineup tells the story of the Highway itself — old and new, local roots with worldly chops.
Come stroll the new, larger Boardman Hutson Pavilion Lot under the Missouri Wall of Fame murals, browse Southeast Missouri artisans, grab Mini Farm Mafia BBQ with brews from Many Good Things Brewing and Ebb and Flow Fermentations, and bring the kids for face painting, games, and Hot Wheels racing.
Celebrate 100 years of the Blues Highway where it still sings — on the riverfront in Cape Girardeau, rain or shine.
For updates: https://visitcape.com/events/annual-events/ and Facebook .
Sources: U.S. Highway 61 designated 1926; 573 Magazine "Blues Highway 61: Missouri's Gateway to the Blues" (March 2026); KFVS12 on Mo. House resolution honoring a century of the Blues Highway (Jan. 30, 2026).
