Three Rivers Turns 30: How Covington's Columbia Street Festival Weekend Is Laid Out This Year

Where does the Covington Three Rivers Art Festival actually happen? Most people would say Columbia Street, and that answer covers about two-thirds of the weekend. The 30th edition fills the 200 through 600 blocks with more than 200 juried artist tents on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 14 and 15, and it's free. The parts made in Covington itself happen on two side-street corners, a few blocks east at the Covington Trailhead, and in the hours after the artists close their tent flaps.

The festival started in 1997 with 49 exhibiting artists. The City of Covington now counts 200 artists and annual attendance above 60,000. That growth explains the layout below. A crowd that size needs the whole downtown, so the festival has spread its program out across it.

The tent line, read from block to block

The tents cover five blocks, and each block has its own job this year.

1. The 400 block holds the poster artist. The 2026 poster artist is Jonah Ballard of Arizona, a self-taught acrylic painter known for a mostly pink palette, according to New Orleans CityBusiness. His booth is in the 400 block.
2. The 300 block holds the music. Local musicians play on a stage in the 300 block all weekend.
3. The corners near Gibson and Lockwood streets hold Arts Alive! These are the live demonstrations, where artists work in front of you.
4. The Children's Village opens at 10 a.m. both days and offers free art and learning activities.

Artists come from across the country and were picked from hundreds of applicants. You'll find painting, photography, ceramics, sculpture, kinetic art, functional pottery, fine jewelry and handmade clothing.

The cross streets are where Covington shows up

The Arts Alive! lineup reads like a list of downtown regulars. CityBusiness names three demonstrating artists:

• Joey Roberts, a Covington resident and City Council member who makes detailed black-and-white drawings.
• Orion Vantol, founder of Covington-based Digital Neauxmad and president of the Covington Business Association.
• Gary Nunez, a St. Tammany Parish resident who hand-carves duck decoys.

So you can watch a sitting council member draw and a decoy take shape under a carving knife, and all of it happens at the Gibson and Lockwood corners.

The Children's Village has the same local roster. The participants are Painting with Rika, Culinary Kids, Northlake Christian School, Ballet Apetrei and Louisiana storyteller and performer Grayhawk Perkins. Ballet Apetrei is also listed as a partner on the festival's own site.

The 2026 food and drink vendors are Meribo, Rue Chow, Coffee Rani, Kiwanis of Covington, Grandma's Kettle Corn, The Nuttery, Pour Lush and Cliff's Cocktails. The festival also has a tented food court with live music, and the restaurants in the Cultural Arts District are open on festival days too.

After 5 p.m. Saturday, the festival moves to the Trailhead

When the tents close Saturday, the weekend moves a few blocks to the Covington Trailhead at 419 N. New Hampshire St. The Trailhead serves as festival headquarters all weekend. The evening is free:

CityBusiness describes the evening as an artist awards party with a free public concert from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nashville singer-songwriter Paul Childers is the performer.

If you've only seen Three Rivers as an afternoon of browsing, this is the other half of it. You hear which artists won awards before you head back for Sunday's shopping. The artists you pass on Columbia Street during the day are the ones collecting awards on New Hampshire Street that evening.

Sunday afternoon belongs to St. Tammany students

On Sunday the Trailhead becomes the most local spot of the weekend again. Hundreds of St. Tammany Parish students have work on display in the festival's Student Art Exhibit. The Student Art Awards are at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Trailhead.

Festival Coordinator Madison Tripp told CityBusiness that Three Rivers invites people to experience art "not only by viewing and purchasing work from incredible artists, but also by watching artists create, celebrating talented students and giving children opportunities to explore their own creativity."

The demonstrations run at the Gibson and Lockwood corners, the student awards at the Trailhead, and the children's activities in the Village, all a short walk from the booths.

A second market on Boston Street, run by a different group

The same weekend, the St. Tammany Art Association holds its Market Under the Oaks. It runs Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 14 and 15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in front of the St. Tammany Emergency Operations Building, the old courthouse, at 510 E. Boston St. It's a juried market for STAA artist members, and STAA states plainly that it has no connection to Three Rivers.

That's useful when you plan your route. The booths under the old courthouse oaks are a separate stop with their own artists, a short walk off the festival footprint. STAA has worked to bring art to western St. Tammany since it was founded in 1958.

Getting there with this year's rules

With the weekend spread across the cross streets, the Trailhead and the separate market on Boston Street, how you get downtown matters more than it used to. Five details shape the trip.

Leave the dog at home. The festival's 2026 rules say no pets are allowed before, during or after the festival, per the Covington Police Department.

Dress for the forecast. The festival is outdoors and runs rain or shine, with no rain plan. For weather updates during the weekend, the festival points people to its Facebook page.

Shop before 4 p.m. on Sunday. Public hours are listed as 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. The exhibitor rules only require artists to staff their booths until 4 p.m. on Sunday, compared with 5 p.m. on Saturday. If you have your eye on a particular piece, buy it before 4.

Park in the ox lots. The City lists its downtown ox lots as free public off-street parking and posts a numbered map. Artists begin setting up Friday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m. and finish early Saturday, so downtown gets busy before the festival opens.

Know the Tammany Trace limits this fall. The Trace still reaches downtown Covington. But the stretch between Gordon Avenue and the Abita Springs Trailhead is closed for the Abita River bridge replacement, with work expected to finish by the end of 2026. As of Nov. 1, the Trace is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday's Trailhead concert runs until 7:30 p.m., so riding in for the evening and riding home on the Trace won't line up with those hours.

A weekend route that covers the whole festival

Here's one way to fit everything into a weekend:

• Saturday, mid-morning: Park in an ox lot. Start at the 400 block for Jonah Ballard's booth, then head to Gibson and Lockwood for the demonstrations.
• Saturday, 5:15 p.m.: Walk to the Trailhead for the awards, Paul Childers and the 7 p.m. music set.
• Sunday, 10 a.m.: Take in the Market Under the Oaks at 510 E. Boston St. and the Columbia Street blocks you missed, and buy anything on your list before 4 p.m.
• Sunday, 3 p.m.: Be at the Trailhead for the Student Art Awards.

The Trailhead stays busy after the festival. The City's Christmas in Covington tree lighting is set there for Saturday, Dec. 12, from 4 to 6:30 p.m.

Thirty years of Three Rivers have filled downtown Covington, from the Columbia Street tents to the Trailhead lawn. If you're thinking about a home within walking distance of all of it, or you'd like to know how festival weekends play into timing a sale near the Cultural Arts District, Patricia Conaghan knows these blocks well. Let's talk about your next move.