After seeing photos of a packed river during the final nights of Riverbends past, I know that tonight’s concert/fireworks display is likely to be among the most popular for water-bound attendees.

As I was walking along the pier at Ross’s Landing thinking about this and looking at all the pretty boats moored there, a river patrol boat for the police department pulled into a vacant mooring position.

Seizing on the opportunity, I decided to ask a couple of questions of the officers that disembarked and found out that the final evening of the festival is expected to draw about 200 boaters for Little Richard’s performance and the subsequent fireworks display from Renaissance Park.

That’s insane. Many of these vessels are enormous monstrosities that don’t look like they’d play nice together in such a crowded space, but there are photos to prove that such has happened in the past.

A little closer to the Coke Stage, I came on one of the largest of the docked boats, The Blue Moon, which is not a water-going brand of beer, as the name suggests, but rather a 77-foot-long, double-decked cruiser.

Hailing the captain, Dave Anderson, and first mate, Rick Houlk, I was welcomed aboard to the top deck where the two already were preparing to host a chartered group of about 70 for a last bender (get it?) before the festival concludes.

“We think tonight will be our busiest,” Mr. Houlk said. “The fireworks will draw a huge crowd.”

This is the Blue Moon’s second year as a floating party platform at Riverbend. I understand their reluctance to offer themselves up as a bar to anyone with enough money to board and take advantage of the Blue Moon’s wetbar, but it’s too bad the boat is currently for charter-only.

After all, it stays docked during the show and would conceivably be accessible to walk-ups, which seems like it would help the two recoup some money during the festival, which is typically a light time of year, Mr. Anderson said.

“Riverbend sort of slows us down a little bit in terms of daily traffic,” he said. “A lot of folks don’t want to walk through the festival site to get here.”

“It’s just hard for people to find us down here — our daily customers,” Mr. Houlk added.

Considering how difficult it can be securing the limited dock space for use during the festival, I was surprised the Blue Moon got such prime real estate to begin with.

Most of the boaters I’ve spoken to said they have to register six months early, and some of them, like Tim Henry, captain of the Comfortably Numb, said they had to camp out at MarineMax of the Tennessee River’s headquarters to secure a spot.

Apparently, the Blue Moon, which hosts charter cruises during the rest of the year, pays monthly rent to be able to dock on the waterfront, so they work with MarineMax and Friends of the Festival to make sure they have a spot to dock and don’t lose all their business during the festival. Seems fair.

Whether you’re partying with Capt. Anderson or hanging out on one of the other hundreds of vessels plying the river (or just a lowly landlubber like myself), enjoy the festival tonight. It’s your last until next year, so make it count.

E-mail Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepres.com