News 12 Then: Riverbend before the Tennessee Aquarium

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – All this week we are looking back 30 years to the early days of the Riverbend Festival.

Riverbend was just six years old in 1988, but that makes it older than the Tennessee Aquarium or any of the Riverfront redevelopment.

In fact, many credit the festival with turning our attention back to the river.

In 1988, festival goers had to learn a new entrance to the site at Ross’s Landing.

The man gate was moved to Riverfront Parkway, under the Olgiati Bridge.

It was their way of preparing us for years of construction of the Aquarium, which was about to begin.

As you see in the video above, before the Aquarium, Broad Street went all the way to Riverfront.