Over the weekend, the city of Ironton hosted the inaugural Ironton River Ride, organized by the American Legion.

As those behind the event said, they assembled the event on a fairly quick schedule, in less than three weeks.

While there were still bugs to work out with some of the events, the main day of the festival on Saturday drew a sizable crowd to the farmers market downtown, where the Cincinnati Circus Company performed for nine hours, offering both a stunt show and a comedy sideshow.

The fair-like atmosphere was a popular destination with families, despite the intense heat of the day.

We commend the Legion for putting this together. It was nice to see activity downtown, giving crowds something different to take in.

Going forward, we hope they repeat this event next year and take a look at what was most popular.

Our region could use more family-friendly events and perhaps the activities at the market are what things should be centered around.

With more planning time for next year, we hope that they will be able to build on what was offered next year and give the city a recurring festival to fill the void left by the absence of Rally on the River.

In the meantime, we encourage merchants, vendors and others to brainstorm and look into even bigger possibilities for a future festival.

This weekend’s activities offered a good foundation that could grow each summer.