Decades after Libby’s waterfront was the site of a poisonous asbestos plant, the area is being reborn. This month, the newly refurbished Riverfront Park will host its first major public event, the Fourth Annual Riverfront Blues Festival.
The newly landscaped, four-acre park was backed by the Environmental Protection Agency, which spent upwards of $2.6 million on design and construction. Although most of the work was completed early this summer, Mayor Doug Roll said there are still a few items to complete, including paving an access road and installing a new $25,000 sprinkler system.
“The important thing is that the EPA didn’t have to do this. They could have scrapped 18 inches of soil and left it an open field,” Roll said. “It’s so pretty down there and it’s a great place for a park.”
The riverfront was the site of where W.R. Grace and Co. loaded rail cars with vermiculite, a materiel that was eventually found to cause cancer. The EPA cleaned the area of the poisonous material by digging nearly four feet into the ground and moving the soil off site.
“I call it an example of our rebirth in Libby,” Roll said. “We’ve had some issues in the past, but we’re ready to move forward.”
This summer, the park has been the site of two weddings and in August it will host the Riverfront Blues Festival, which features eight bands from across the Northwest and the country. The two-day music festival began in 2008 as a way to breathe new life into the economically struggling community, according to one of the original organizers, Tom Quigley of Portland, Ore.
Quigley’s wife Bev had family in Libby and has always had a connection to the town. With Bev’s local connections and Tom’s 30 years as a blues musician, the pair worked together to raise funds for Libby’s downtown revitalization project.
“Libby was hit hard, but at one time it was a lively place and that’s what this event is trying to do, to get the city back up,” he said.
Quigley has since stopped organizing the event, but looks forward to attending this year. Now, much of the work falls to Peggy Oelberg of Libby, who is the entertainment coordinator. She said last year nearly 800 people attended the concert and many have come back each year. Some of those people will be seeing the newly expanded park for the first time.
“It’s just getting bigger and bigger,” she said. “The people who have come back every year will get to see what has been going on and how this park has been restored.”
This year the festival features eight different bands and wraps up late Saturday night with an all-star jam, sponsored by Kootenai Surveying. Other sponsors include Environmental Restoration, LLC. Tickets for the festival can be purchased at the gate or at various businesses in Libby, Eureka or Kalispell. For more information, visit www.riverfrontbluesfestival.com