Paddle the RiverLine Before It's Built: Downtown Napa's Fall on the River

At 10:30 on the morning of Sunday, October 25, a group of paddlers in pointed hats will push off from the Main Street Dock, head upriver to the Oxbow and come back. The organizers of the second annual Witches Paddle ask people to arrive by 9:45 to launch, "find your coven" and get a hat settled. The group leaves right on time. You can bring your own kayak, canoe or paddleboard, rent one, or book a seat on a Venetian gondola with Napa Valley Gondola, according to the event listing on DoNapa.

That short loop is also the backbone of a much larger plan. The Napa RiverLine is a proposed 4.3-mile riverfront route from Trancas Crossing Park south through downtown. Its 1.5-mile core section curves through the Oxbow, crosses west into downtown and continues along the riverfront, according to the Press Democrat's coverage of the 2024 concept. The finished trail is years away. This fall, the water already connects the two ends, and the season's best downtown dates fall along that line.

The route the paddle traces

The RiverLine's own materials describe a connected route linking downtown, Oxbow Commons and Preserve, the Rail Arts District and the Vine Trail, with gathering places, public art and environmental restoration as goals. A $250,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration funded the strategic plan behind it.

On foot, the downtown section is partly in place today. The Riverfront Promenade is already open for walking. As of the 2024 reporting, the existing Napa River Trail ended at the River Terrace Inn. On the river, nothing is missing. The Witches Paddle goes from Main Street to the Oxbow and back, which is roughly the stretch the trail's core section is meant to cover on land. A morning on the water gives you a preview of a route the city expects to build out over the rest of the decade.

Getting on the water in October and November

For residents, the useful detail is which outfitter launches from where, because this stretch has two launch points. Several operators mention similar services, so check names carefully when you book.

• Main Street Dock, behind 700 Main Street, advertises gondola cruises, private boat cruises, and kayak and canoe trips from the downtown dock.
• Napa Valley Gondola runs private Venetian-style cruises of about 55 minutes for up to six passengers. Times are set through online booking, not a posted fall schedule.
• BOAT Napa offers a private, guided 75-minute river cruise for up to six people on an electric Duffy boat.
• Napa Valley Paddle rents kayaks and stand-up paddleboards from the Napa Yacht Club public ramp at 100 Riverside Drive. Routes go up through downtown and the Oxbow or south toward Kennedy Park. Its fall rentals are by appointment only, Friday through Monday, with a two-hour minimum.
• Napa Kayak also launches from 100 Riverside Drive. It calls October and November its fall season, describes walk-up rentals as seasonal and recommends reserving ahead. Its Sunset Kayak Tour is the one trip that leaves from Main Street Dock.

None of the boat operators posts a fixed fall timetable. Every option on this stretch now runs on reservations, and the Riverside Drive rentals only run Friday through Monday. A Tuesday-evening paddle needs to be booked ahead.

What's at the Oxbow end

The Oxbow end of the loop got a new marker this summer. The Oxbow Gateway Sign now spans First Street. It came out of the Oxbow Task Force, where more than 20 local business representatives worked on ways to strengthen the district, and the Downtown Napa Property and Business Improvement District put $150,000 toward it, according to the City of Napa's September 22 placemaking update. If you come in by water, the market is your landmark. If you come in by car or bike, the sign is.

Inside Oxbow Public Market, the vendor list has changed over the past few months:

1. Johnny Doughnuts is new. The Napa Valley Register photographed the shop open and serving customers on Wednesday, August 26.
2. Roman Holiday Gelato is now on the market's vendor list, and the market has celebrated its grand opening.
3. Rotation by Feast it Forward is a chef-residency kitchen whose menu changes with each guest chef. The market's own post says Chef Ranjan Dey of New Delhi Restaurant takes over "this October." The post carries no date, so check the market's feed before planning a visit around it.
4. Tacote, a planned takeout taco counter, has filed a liquor license application for 610 First St. #CM-6 inside the market. No opening date has been announced.

A Sunday paddle that turns around at the Oxbow now has doughnuts and gelato at the far end. That makes the halfway point a reason to go, not just the spot where you turn back.

The Main Street end, and the calendar that keeps coming back to it

At the downtown end, the Riverfront Napa building lists Normandie Restaurant & Bar alongside Morimoto Napa, Morimoto Asia, Los Agaves and The Waterfront Seafood Grill. Veterans Park sits just up from the dock. Over the next four months, almost every major downtown date lands within a few blocks of the water:

• Sunday, October 25: Witches Paddle, Main Street Dock to the Oxbow and back. Arrive at 9:45 a.m.; the group leaves at 10:30 a.m.
• Saturday, October 31: Hometown Halloween downtown, with trick-or-treating from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and family activities at First Street Napa from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Saturday, November 7: Napa Día de los Muertos at Veterans Park and Brown Street, per DoNapa's event calendar.
• Saturday, December 5: The 61st annual Napa Christmas Parade.
• January 16 to February 14, 2027: The Napa Lighted Art Festival downtown, open 6 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, according to Visit Napa Valley.

The Lighted Art Festival gets support from the city's Tourism Improvement District, which puts lodging-generated revenue into events and community activations. In fiscal year 2025/26, the district gave $385,000 in grants to 14 organizations. The city describes the aim of this kind of spending as bringing people downtown in slower seasons. In practice, that keeps the riverfront busy on winter evenings, long after the boats have gone to appointment-only schedules.

What the trail adds, and when

The organization now leading the RiverLine is new. The nonprofit was set up in January 2026 to run fundraising and community engagement. Its executive committee is Steve Carlin as chair, Chuck Shinnamon as vice chair, Bob Muh as treasurer and Kate Miller as secretary. It grew out of the city's RiverLine Advisory Committee. The actual North Floodwall construction, which lays the base for the trail, is a separate Flood Control District project.

The published timeline on the RiverLine's About page has three milestones:

• 2027: Expected completion of the North Floodwall trail segment.
• 2030: Completion of the "Base Trail" by the Flood Control Project.
• Later: Added lighting, art and docks, paid for through private philanthropy and community support.

Docks are on the long-term list, though Main Street Dock already sends gondolas, boat cruises and kayak tours out onto this stretch. As of the city's March update, the nonprofit was still working out how to hold in-person community sessions. The trail details from the 2024 report, including the 1.5-mile core, are still at the concept stage and could change as the phased plan moves forward. Until a segment opens, the Main Street-to-Oxbow loop is the closest thing to it, whether you take it by kayak, gondola or electric boat this fall.

If you own near the downtown river and want to know how the RiverLine timeline could figure into what your home is worth, Amanda Shone follows these projects closely and is glad to talk it through with you. Get your instant home valuation to start that conversation.