Feather Fest 2023

FEATHER RIVER FESTIVAL 2023

American Whitewater is proud to bring back the storied traditions of the annual Feather River Festival for 2023! This festival and fundraiser mark the annual celebration of American Whitewater’s stewardship work on the North Fork Feather River. At its core, it’s a celebration of AW’s successful efforts to restore ecological and recreational flows to the North Fork Feather River watershed and reconnect the community to this special place. The festival is put on through efforts of American Whitewater, Chico Paddleheads and volunteers from the paddling community.

This 3-day festival, September 22-24, 2023 brings together boaters who run every type of whitewater craft down three distinct sections of river: the fun Class III rapids of Roger’s Flat Section, the exciting Class IV on the Lobin Section, and finally the challenging Class V Tobin Section. The roadside access makes the festival an exciting event for aspiring boaters to paddle alongside some truly world class athletes.

Low flow releases on the North Fork Feather for Friday September 22nd will provide boating opportunities for the early birds and recreational releases of 1100 cfs will begin on Saturday September 23rd and 900 cfs through Sunday September 24th.

All current American Whitewater members will have free admission to the Film Festival on Friday and the Feather Fest Party on Saturday. Donate, renew or sign up for a new AW membership to support our stewardship work and you will be entered into our drawing for a new drysuit!

On Friday night, American Whitewater will kick off the weekend with the film festival and the all important Stewardship update on our work. On Saturday night, Habanero’s Taqueria food truck arrives to feed the masses and Sierra Nevada and Mulberry Station will provide the beer. Smokey the Groove returns to provide the ultimate funk rock jazz experience and will DJ our after party.

As a fundraiser for American Whitewater, the Saturday night Silent Auction will have boats and gear at awesome prices for bidding. There will also be plenty of vendor and sponsor booths to amass boater swag and merchandise!

Note: American Whitewater will not be sponsoring or holding a Tobin Downriver Race or a Rock Creek Slalom this year but we encourages boaters of all types to enjoy the recreational releases at their leisure.

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

Where: The “Indian Jim” School and adjacent campground located at Plumas County mile marker 8.22 on Highway 70 near Tobin, CA. Search “Indian Jim Campground” on Google Maps for location.

As a reminder to be respectful of the homelands of the Konkow Valley Band of Maidu, the Feather River Festival is a LEAVE NO TRACE event. Please, pack it in and pack it out. There are no trash cans nor is there trash pick-up available at the event.

NO DRINKING WATER is available at the Festival, please BYO water.

There is FREE camping at the Festival site. Additional free camping is available one mile up-stream at Roger’s Flat or one mile down-stream at Tobin Vista. Parking is tight, carpool!

There is no shuttle service; however, there are hundreds of cool boater folks just like you… just meet your neighbor for guaranteed fun times and great boating!

NO OPEN FIRES! You are required to have a free permit from the forest service web site for using any camp stove. Get yours HERE.

Join AW and support river stewardship nationwide!