MARTINDALE, Texas — It's become an annual tradition. You float down the river, listen to some live music and some even set up camp.
"It's been great, we've had a great turn out of campers this year," said Anthony Erickson, Float Fest’s marketing director.
Those that turned out say their tickets came with some instructions on how to conduct themselves.
"They made it pretty clear when they sent out tickets and all that, be clean, be friendly, be nice," said Float Fest goer Reed Duncan.
The golden rule, as they call it.
"We kept seeing 'don't litter signs' we had a trash bag tied to our tubes so we could put all are empties in there and kept things in backpacks and such so we didn't have to mess up the river," said attendee Michaela Boswell.
Trash aside, those who live and work nearby continue to be concerned with the high volume of people that use the river.
"We had 10,000 people going down this little 2-mile stretch of river. I think that's a new record for us,” said Tom Goynes of the San Marcos River Retreat.
And, the noise pollution, as well.
"Every other word is the f word and it's broadcast throughout the entire area and it's just not neighborly you know, not Texas friendly I don't think," continued Goynes.
But Float Fest officials say festival goers are getting friendlier, and that year after year, their message of being clean and courtesy is starting to resonate.
"We want to keep the river clean and we want to leave no trace, so I think we've pounded that into people's heads and the river going, hey yeah this is what we're supposed to do so we can keep coming back to the same beautiful river more and more,” added Erickson.