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Holding back water allows riverfront events to go on

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Steamboat Days will happen as scheduled and riverfront businesses will remain open this coming weekend as the city of Peoria has been able to keep flood waters from the Illinois River rom encroaching too far.

In a news conference Thursday, the city said efforts to erect a 1,500-foot temporary flood wall in only 18 hours has been instrumental in ensuring the weekend will not be ruined by rising water.

The river is expected to reach the 25.5 foot flood stage on Saturday, but Michael Rogers, Peoria public works director, said the temporary wall and other sandbagging efforts should be enough to keep the water from encroaching further than it has so far. Work will continue to the weekend, he said.

“Today and tomorrow, our staff will be focusing on cleaning up the riverfront area for the weekend events. The efforts of our department with the additional help from the Mayor’s Youth Program have been critical to the speed in which the wall was installed,” Rogers said.

“We want to ensure that our businesses take place, that people continue to come downtown, enjoy this beautiful downtown,” he added.

Among the Steamboat Days activities is the Steamboat Classic Four Mile Run and 15K on Saturday morning as well as a carnival and live music during the weekend. Events scheduled for the CEFCU Stage, the main stage on the riverfront, will be moved because that stage is under water.  

The temporary wall that is being used here for the first time is filled with sand, using backhoes, and can be erected 30 times faster than the normal way of putting up a wall of stacked sandbags. Called RIBS, for Rapid Installation Barricade System, it was shipped to Peoria from Joplin, Missouri, and filled with sand from Pekin, the city said.

Working in two shifts, crews from the city’s Public Works Department and youth from the Mayor’s Youth Program were able to get the wall erected in 18 hours. The city said survey crews are monitoring the riverfront and elevation levels and if the water continues to rise, an extension of the wall can be installed, if necessary.

“In order to maintain the structure of the wall and the safety of residents and visitors, the public is asked to stay away from the wall. There are two official public viewing areas on top of the Riverfront Village parking deck. These areas are both adjacent to the outdoor dining spaces of Joes’ Crab Shack and New Amsterdam. Access to the restaurants and viewing areas are by stairs or elevators on the Water Street entrance or the stairs between Joe’s Crab Shack and the clock tower,” the city said.

“All riverfront businesses and the Steamboat Festival remain open.”

The parking spaces under Riverfront Village and the adjacent parking lot next to the River Station are temporarily closed as crews work to install the temporary wall system. Parking there will be limited when it reopens.

The Riverfront Market will be held in its regular location on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon.

“We want to encourage people to come down and enjoy the Riverfront activities like the Riverfront Market, the annual Steamboat Festival and our many unique shops and restaurants,” said City Manager Patrick Urich.

The Peoria Riverfront Association on Thursday issued a news release reiterating all events will happen as scheduled, with Steamboat Days Festival using Festival Park, and that the Spirit of Peoria cruises are still scheduled, including its Father’s Day cruise on Sunday.

About the Author
Paul Gordon is the editor of The Peorian after spending 29 years of indentured servitude at the Peoria Journal Star. He’s an award-winning writer, raconteur and song-and-dance man. He also went to a high school whose team name is the Alices (that’s Vincennes Lincoln High School in Indiana; you can look it up).