Several hundred residents and out-of-town visitors alike spent their afternoon roaming around the Downtown Paris Promenade on Saturday, August 29, 2026.
Open to the public since early July, the pedestrian-focused space was designed as a place to gather, relax and experience the heart of downtown Paris. It was created as part of an initiative aimed at helping to mitigate the impact the Downtown Dig has had on businesses in the area.
Since then, the Downtown Paris Promenade has featured a host of community programming for all ages including live music, line dancing, markets, games, fitness sessions, art events and more.
With summer soon coming to an end, visitors flocked to the area for Riverfest, a two-day celebration serving as one last big hurrah of the season.
The festivities began with the second annual Block Party on Friday, August 28, featuring live entertainment from Michael Bryan, Core Dance Project, Ty Baynton and a PYNX Production DJ set.
Guests spent a majority of the evening hanging out in the Paris Beer Co. beer garden, checking out various LED installations, playing games, or taking advantage of downtown business specials and more.
Programming continued the next day on Saturday, August 29, with a host of activities for families of all ages.
The afternoon featured live music from Ben Sommer, FLORIN CLONTA and Michael Bryan, along with glitter tattoos with Bre Creative, and face painting from the Le Petit Panteurs.
Both residents and out-of-town visitors spent their time exploring the area, cooling down with freezies from Paris Bakery, taking walking tours with the Paris Museum and Historical Society, playing ping pong and cornhole, or participating in arts and crafts.
While many youngsters happily bounced around on a large inflatable attraction, several were particularly interested in the Grand River Conservation Authority’s dam demonstration, where Kaitlyn Taylor taught them about staying safe around dams.
To help encourage visitors to explore local businesses, the County also set up a duck hunt to get people inside of stores. After finding five ducks and collecting their stamps, participants could claim a prize. As well, visitors could submit their receipts for an hourly draw for a chance to win $25 in BIA Bucks.
Jasleen Nisbett, who was there with her daughters Giulianna and Genevieve Giu, said she and their friends had been visiting Lions Park when they stumbled upon the Riverfest while stopping for ice cream.
When asked what she thought of the festivities, Nisbett said they were enjoying themselves.
“It’s so fun, there’s a lot of things happening and it just has that small town, homey feel to it,” she said. “I love the promenade, and the fact that you can just walk along the street, actually do things and enjoy the bands, it’s really nice.”
Her friend, Kaylin Harris, said she couldn’t agree more.
“I love that the community can get together like this,” she said. “It’s great that there’s things specifically catered to the whole family and that a pair of girlfriends can come down together with their kids and have a good time. I love all the free face painting and the glitter tattoos, the vendors and the games too. If you can’t utilize the street, traffic wise, then you might as well make use of the space and this is brilliant.”
The two said they particularly enjoyed the duck hunt as it had them popping into stores they’d never been in before
“It brought us into shops we didn’t think to explore previously, and now we’re both like, ‘oh my goodness, we need to come back and explore this place more,’” said Harris.
Chelsie Sharp, the County’s Special Events and Filming Coordinator, later told the Brant Beacon that it was great to see people out and about enjoying everything Riverfest had to offer.
“The turnout over the last two days has been just fantastic. As a local who was born and raised in Paris, and seeing the downtown go through all this construction, this promenade has been a great addition,” she said. “It’s been really nice to watch everybody come out with their families, enjoy date nights, have the restaurants open and see the shops being utilized. It just feels like a full, vibrant community again.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
