{"id":101840,"date":"2026-01-31T21:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/101840\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T21:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:23:07","slug":"conestoga-river-named-2026-pennsylvania-river-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/101840\/","title":{"rendered":"Conestoga River named 2026 Pennsylvania River of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM) \u2014 A local waterway is Pennsylvania\u2019s \u201cRiver of the Year\u201d for 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cPennsylvania\u2019s 2026 River of the Year is the Conestoga River, and we are excited to spend the year celebrating the beauty and majesty of this wonderful waterway,\u201d\u00a0Secretary\u00a0Cindy Adams Dunn of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources\u00a0said. \u201cThis once-polluted river is an example of what can happen when we prioritize clean, healthy waterways. Its transformation has made the Conestoga a hub for outdoor recreation, providing a boost to the region and demonstrating that rivers build thriving communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The river begins in Berks County, flowing through the Lancaster area before joining the Susquehanna River below the Safe Harbor Dam for a length of 61 miles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">DCNR calls it \u201cone of Lancaster County\u2019s most scenic waterways and is a popular spot for canoeing, kayaking, tubing, and fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It was chosen as River of the Year through an online vote, receiving 2,510 votes out of 5,604. The other finalists were the Lower Schuylkill River and the Chillisquaque Creek.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"http:\/\/abc27.com\/streaming\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Download the abc27 News+ app on your Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV devices;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Download the abc27 News+ app on your Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV devices<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/abc27.com\/streaming\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:, and newer Samsung Smart TVs.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">, and newer Samsung Smart TVs.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThe Conestoga River being named 2026 River of the Year is an honor that celebrates a history woven into the fabric of life in Lancaster County,\u201d said\u00a0Conestoga River Club Executive Director Malinda Harnish Clatterbuck. \u201cFrom the legacy of the Conestoga people to the iconic wagons that helped shape a nation, to the community families that recreate in its meandering shallows, the Conestoga River is deeply beloved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc27.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM) \u2014 A local waterway is Pennsylvania\u2019s \u201cRiver of the Year\u201d for 2026. \u201cPennsylvania\u2019s 2026 River&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[31472,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-101840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-conestoga-river","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}