RENO, Nev. -- The Truckee River used to be strewn with garbage as it made its way through downtown Reno. An extensive cleanup project has since made it home to a world-class kayaking and tube float park, and a place where people actually like to congregate for events.

One of the success stories of the river's revival is an arts and cultural festival that offers free events every day in July in a riverside park.

The monthlong Artown festival also offers performances at area stages and theaters -- for which admission is charged -- and headliners this year include Ringo Starr, Wynton Marsalis, the Harlem Gospel Choir and the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago troupe.

The free summer concerts are held at an amphitheater on an island in the park, and a 60,000-square foot Nevada Museum of Art has been built just blocks away.

"This is our lucky 13 th year," said Beth Macmillan, executive director of the festival that features music, dance and opera; hands-on arts programs, film screenings and theater performances. "It's grown in size and scope."

The National Endowment for the Arts, which is supporting Artown this year with a $15,000 grant, calls it "one of the most comprehensive festivals in the country."

The original event drew about 30,000 to a three-week festival. Last year, more than 350,000 visitors attended.

Artown kicks off Tuesday (July 1) with an opening night parade led by the MarchFourth Marching Band and the aerial artistry of the Heliosphere, featuring acrobats suspended from a helium balloon.

Musical highlights throughout the month include the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, clarinetist David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness! Ensemble, Japanese-inspired drumming by San Jose Taiko and Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez, a premier mariachi band.

The Coeur d'Alene Art Auction has been scheduled in Reno July 25-26 in conjunction with Artown. There will also be such multicultural events as the International Film Series, Festival of Russian Music, Gospel Bluegrass, Native American Festival, Aloha Festival, Food For the Soul World Music Series and 41 st annual Basque Festival.

The Movies in the Park series offers free showings of motion pictures ranging from Disney's "The Lion King" to Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo."

The Nevada Opera will present "Brundibar," which originally was performed by children in Nazi concentration camps, and the TheatreWorks of Northern Nevada is doing "Goldilocks On Trial," a courtroom farce dealing with the aftermath of the "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" fairy tale.

Numerous hands-on events are geared toward children and teenagers, many of whom come to frolic in the water park but end up staying to try their hand at painting, sculpting, dancing or acting in a play at the Discover the Arts workshops.

Karen Craig, executive director of the 1999 festival, said that at the time, no one thought of Reno as a place to enjoy the arts. "You do now," she said.

"Back then, all we basically had by the river was a parking gallery. The art museum was in the old Title Company building. I remember all those dirty buildings had their backs to the river."

Since then, the Riverside Hotel built in 1927 has been renovated into artist lofts, with a deli and restaurant on the first floor. A theater complex fronts another riverside block and baskets full of colorful flowers hang from street lights on bridges and river walkways.

"Now, our riverfront is magnificent," Craig said. "Anybody who walks along it says 'I wish we had one of those in our town.' "

-- www.renoisartown.com; (775) 322-1538.