Potential impact for River Run Park on local businesses
Article from WVUA23
Construction continues in Northport for River Run Park, but city leaders are now focusing on the fan experience.
Crews hosted a meeting today for local business owners to encourage them to start planning now.
Northport is expected to welcome more than 500,000 visitors in 2026 once athletics tournaments start.
To help with this influx, they encouraged restaurant owners to make more space for larger tables and for salons and other small businesses to adjust their hours and availability.
"So the traffic flow is very important because people only have so much time in between games and again what we don't want them to do is go back and leave the area and not spend money in Northport. So we have a traffic plan, we'll have signs up directing people, and then on the website prior to a game, we'll give the various Northport vendors they can go to," said Birch Dalton, Northport Sports Development Managing Director.
