A steady stream of visitors made their way to Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park on Saturday for "Riverfest," an event focusing on the Nolichucky River that flows past the park.

About 650 people visited the park on Saturday, according to Mark Halback, the park's manager.

The event was sponsored jointly by the park, the Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance, and French Broad Riverkeeper, a river monitoring and advocacy agency.

Hartwell Carson, of Asheville, N.C., led a delegation of watercraft that started out with more than a dozen canoes a week earlier in Spruce Pine, N.C.

A week later, because of other obligations and a few medical emergencies, Carson was the lone canoeist to be greeted by "Davy Crockett" just upstream from the park.

Crockett, the famed pioneer, was actually Steve Ricker, a member of Pioneer Friends of Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park, wearing homespun clothes and moccasins and paddling a real birch-bark canoe.

The real Davy may not have had such a wonderful canoe, but he surely would have appreciated it, as did those who saw Ricker making his way up and down the river with apparent ease.

Other "Pioneer Friends" dressed in period costumes were also on hand demonstrating or talking about skills that were needed on the frontier such as soap making, tanning and making wooden bowls.

U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, R-1st, of Johnson City, visited Riverfest early Saturday morning and was shown the park's new informational kiosk by Halback, the park manager, who was also in period costume.

Roe said that he tells other members of Congress that Tennessee's First Congressional District produced two presidents -- Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson -- and that the seat was once held by Davy Crockett.

"Everybody remembers Davy Crockett," said Roe.

All of the educational exhibits at Riverfest were linked to the river.

Organizations participating included the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Trout Unlimited and several soil conservation districts and Watershed Alliances projects in the Nolichucky River valley.

Hartwell Carson, who earned a degree in resources management at the University of Georgia and then a masters degree focusing on river impacts at the University of Montana, is the "Riverkeeper" for the French Broad River.

Riverkeeper, he explained, is a term licensed by the Waterkeeper Alliance, a national network of people and organizations who care about water quality and work to maintain and promote it.

Carson is employed by Riverlink, based in Asheville, and the Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance recently affiliated with Riverlink.

The French Broad's watershed includes not only that river's drainage area, but also those of the Pigeon River and the Nolichucky, he explained.

Carson said his trip down the smaller Toe River in North Carolina, which flows into the Nolichucky, was made more interesting by high water. Higher water allowed him to see and note tributaries that were muddy or oddly colored.

Higher water also made the trip more fun, he said. "It's been a super trip," Carson said.

After RiverFest, the paddlers continued downstream. On Thursday, June 4, from 4 to 7 p.m., "Conservation on the River" will take place near Lowlands in Hamblen County on the river.

On Saturday, June 6, starting at 8 a.m. a wildlife and bird tour is planned at Rankin Bottoms, where the French Broad and Nolichucky Rivers come together to form Douglas Lake.

Rankin Bottoms is a skinny peninsula that is said to be "the best example of river bottomland in East Tennessee." Fish get trapped, and waders, ospreys and eagles are attracted.

Rankin Bottoms is also one of the best birding areas in the state. Join a naturalist for a guided tour of this beautiful wildlife habitat.

To make reservations, go to www.rapidtransitvideo.com/#id=album-1&num=1

For more information, contact the French Broad Riverkeeper at 828-252-8474 ext. 114 or at riverkeeper@riverlink.org.