The Medallion clues are out, food trucks are being prepped, the carnival is being setup and stages will be put in place on Friday, that must mean it is Rivertown Days (RTD) 2023!

Rivertown Days is a time for Hastings to come together and celebrate what a great city this is. The events evolve over time, the festival always changes, but that one thing, a celebration of Hastings, remains true.

What is the biggest change this year for RTD? That one is easy to explain, but hard for some to swallow: no more buttons, sort of. The RTD button is a yearly piece of memorabilia that collectors love to have. Until this year, the button was your admission token to the event. Unfortunately, the button was also abused as an admission token, one person would use their button Friday, then a second person would use the same button Saturday. Sometimes a button would make its way through multiple people for one weekend of RTD. Given that this is a fundraiser for the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce, the loss of revenue from the sharing of buttons has started to hit harder the last few years, so they opted to change the admission to digitized tickets. Once the ticket is scanned, it is no longer valid to be scanned a second time. Pre-purchased tickets were only $15, and kids are free to enter.

What does the ticket get you?

The official RTD ticket is good for events that happen downtown on Friday, July 21 from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday, July 22 from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Those events are any of the events that happen beyond the gated areas along Second Street East. The accompanying map shows the gated areas. The events include the carnival rides, all the downtown stage shows, plus the food trucks and beer tents.

Tickets are not required for the arts and crafts fair located in Jaycee Park and other events around town.

What events should you look for? That depends on what you like.

If you are a person into live music and/or enjoying an adult beverage, you’ll be spending your Friday and Saturday nights downtown enjoying music on four stages.

If you enjoy sports, you will want to go watch the Hastings Hawks take on the Cannon Falls Bears at Veterans Park on Friday at 7:30 p.m. This game is for second place in the Classic Cannon Valley League and will position the winner nicely for the regional playoffs. On Saturday, you can go watch the City of Hastings’ wiffle ball tournament at Wilson Park at 9 a.m.

If you enjoy shopping, many downtown businesses are having sidewalk sales, the Arts and Crafts Fair is free to access in Jaycee Park and there is a creator’s market on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Premier Bank is hosting a petting zoo at the corner of 10th St. and Vermillion St. Half a block down Vermillion St and across the street is the River of Life Kids Carnival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and just outside of town at 17698 Northfield Blvd the Rich Valley RC Club Fly In will take place from 10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Sunday the events downtown are free with the big one being the City of Hastings Machinery Hill under the Highway 61 Bridge from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Sunday will also feature a car show downtown from 11 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The YMCA duck race is also back, 1:30 p.m. at the bridge over the Vermillion River near County Road 46 and 31st Street.

There are a lot of options for things to do and see both free and ticketed. For a full list of events, visit rivertowndaysmn.com and don’t forget your sunscreen!