Front Street's concrete paving is complete. By September 8, the village's own construction update had the punch list down to site electrical work at the marina and admin building lot, due October 15, and a decorative paver plaza still going in. After two years of orange fencing, detour signs, and a business district squeezed down to one open sidewalk, New Richmond's riverfront is close enough to finished that residents can start picturing it without construction equipment in the frame.
The Appalachian Festival has already brought two weekends of activity to Front Street.
Two Festivals, One Construction Zone
The Appalachian Festival spent more than 50 years at Coney Island before organizers announced New Richmond as its new "forever home" in January 2025. The 54th annual festival landed there that May, and the 55th followed this past May 9 and 10, both on Mother's Day weekend along Front Street.
Neither one happened on a finished site. Spectrum News covered the 2026 festival while the riverfront was still mid-construction, reporting that the event ran in a more condensed footprint because of the ongoing $13 million-plus overhaul. Appalachian Festival board vice president Kathryn Bailey described picking New Richmond specifically because of what the location offered once it was done. Board member Ron Simmons put the local connection in plainer terms, noting that roughly 30% of the region's population traces back to Appalachia.
So the two festivals residents have already experienced there were previews staged around active construction, not the version the village and the festival board actually built toward. The next one, in May 2027, will be the first Appalachian Festival to unfold on a completed Liberty Landing.
Why the Streetscape Needed to Be Wider, Not Just Newer
Liberty Landing isn't only a cosmetic upgrade to a historic downtown. The project widens Front Street by roughly 25 feet and elevates the new streetscape, adding overlooks toward the river rather than just repaving what was already there. That detail only makes sense next to what happened to the street in April 2025.
The Ohio River rose to major flood stage that month, reaching around 60 feet, a level Fire Chief Tim Feldkamp said the village hadn't seen in decades. At Green Kayak, a restaurant along the riverfront, owner Rebecca Light told Spectrum News the water came fast: 13 inches inside the restaurant in under 24 hours. Some residents were displaced for as long as six months afterward. Feldkamp's summary of the risk was direct: the river floods, and being prepared has to be the priority.
Front Street's business district sits low against the Ohio River by design and by history. Raising the streetscape and pushing it out those extra 25 feet does two things at once. It creates the overlooks and event space the marina project was funded for, and it puts the rebuilt corridor a bit further above the water line that took out Green Kayak's dining room 18 months ago. The same construction that residents have spent two seasons detouring around is flood mitigation wearing the clothes of a tourism upgrade.
The Timeline, As of This Month
The village's Liberty Landing update, posted September 8, laid out what's left:
| Work item | Status as of Sept. 8, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Front Street concrete pavement | Completed Aug. 24–Sept. 4 |
| Site electrical (admin building lot and marina) | Targeted finish Oct. 15 |
| Decorative paver plaza | In progress |
| Overall project | On track for October completion, per project reporting |
The Clermont Sun's July report on the project named the people who got it this far: Cincinnati-based KZF Design handled the planning, Prus Construction has led the infrastructure work, and Washington Marine is building the new boat docks just downriver before they're installed at the site. The $13.4 million project draws its funding from Ohio's Appalachian Community Grant Program, part of a broader $204 million push the state has directed toward riverfront communities under its Wonderful Waterfronts initiative.
Renaissance New Richmond Inc., the all-volunteer nonprofit that has backed the project locally, has also noted that several new businesses have already moved in ahead of completion, and that a handful of the district's 19th-century buildings have been restored in anticipation of Liberty Landing wrapping up. The nonprofit has been candid that some local businesses took a real hit during construction, even while framing the finished product as the payoff.
What's Actually New Along the River
Once the punch list clears, New Richmond gets a public marina, an ADA-accessible floating dock system, dedicated event space, and the widened Front Street streetscape with river overlooks that weren't there before. That's a different downtown than the one that hosted two Appalachian Festivals working around fencing and a single open sidewalk.
The historic bones stay put. The Ross Gowdy House Museum, built in 1850 and on the National Register of Historic Places, has served as the village's museum and the headquarters of Historic New Richmond since 1973. The birthplace of Ulysses S. Grant sits nearby, a restored three-room cottage from 1817. Front Street's role in the Underground Railroad is marked as part of Clermont County's Freedom Trail, a piece of the district's history that predates any of this construction and isn't going anywhere once it's done.
The dining scene along that stretch has its own character too. Casa DeLuna has built a reputation on some of the best riverfront views of any restaurant in Clermont County, and Dee's Dairy Bar has been a fixture in the village for years. Those are the kinds of stops that make a finished Front Street worth walking end to end rather than just driving past.
The Test Comes Next May
By the time the 56th Appalachian Festival sets up on Front Street in May 2027, it won't need a condensed footprint or a plan built around active construction. It'll be the first time festival organizers, vendors, and the thousands of visitors who show up for Mother's Day weekend see the site the way it was actually designed to work.
That's the real marker for New Richmond residents to watch, more than the October ribbon-cutting itself. Two festivals have already happened here under scaffolding. The third one is the one that shows whether the wait was worth it.
If you've been watching Front Street change block by block this year, The Cindy Shetterly Team would love to hear what you're noticing, whether it's the new dock going in or which restaurant patio you're most looking forward to getting back.