Pranaav Jadhav

pjadhav@gannett.com

After 15 years, the Rivers and Spires Festival will permanently end this April.

"It's kind of run its course, there are neat things that are going to come downtown and so it is time to change and do something else," Theresa Harrington, vice president of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Economic Development Council said.

In 2016, the festival in downtown Clarksville had set a new attendance record. More than 49,000 people attended the three-day event, up from the previous record of 42,073 people in 2010, according to festival officials.

Montgomery Gentry, For King and Country playing Rivers & Spires in April

Harrington said once the festival permanently ends in April, something new may come up next year to meet the needs of the community.

"It will be bigger entertainers this year than we have had in the past, we won't necessarily look to make money out of this event for next year so basically we can spend more money on entertainers," Harrington said.

After a devastating F4 tornado ravaged Historic Downtown Clarksville in 1999, there was a need to rebuild the community — the Rivers and Spires Festival was born out of that need to bring the community together.

Past headliners include Little Big Town, Lee Greenwood, Diamond Rio, Charlie Daniels Band and Clint Black.

County Mayor Jim Durrett said the festival has been a great event for the community for many years.

"It takes hundreds of volunteers and a full year of planning to make it happen, so I’m sure that this decision was not made lightly," Durrett said, "One thing I know for sure though is that it won’t be the end to downtown events, as we have great event opportunities coming forward with the construction of Civic Plaza."

In 2017, Montgomery Gentry, For King and Country will be playing in Downtown Clarksville.

Reach government reporter Pranaav Jadhav at pjadhav@theleafchronicle.com, 931-245-0742 and on Facebook or Twitter.