Carlos Rogers

When you sit and talk with our 2025 Parade Marshal, you can feel the energy and enthusiasm he brings to everything he does. From advocating for and seeing through the Dog Park project to starting and running the Riverton Criterium, and even now spearheading new projects, Carlos Rogers seems unstoppable.

Carlos is a graduate of Ursinus College in Pennsylvania. A lover of fitness, he taught Health and Physical Education for 3 years and then became a personal trainer. In addition, he worked at Bicycle Therapy, a premier bicycle shop in Philadelphia owned by his brother and had always dabbled in hair styling. During his college years, he became the barber for many of his college buddies. His hobby finally became a reality after he attended cosmetology school in Philadelphia.

Carlos met his wife, Adrienne Gaughan, while working at Bicycle Therapy when she brought her bicycle in for repair. They dated long distance, lived together in New York City, and eventually got married. Adrienne is a lifelong Riverton girl, daughter of Rich and Iris Gaughan. One time, she suggested to him that they spend the 4th of July right here, watching the parade and enjoying the festivities. Although Carlos was not familiar with the esprit de corps that is the Riverton 4th of July, he soon embraced it.

Now, he and Adrienne own Hush Salon Philadelphia in Old City, Philadelphia, and have a teenage son, Leo. Leo is a graduate of Riverton School and a rising junior at St. Joe's Prep who has inherited his father’s energy with his love of swimming, mountain biking, and street hockey.

Owning a business and having a family are huge undertakings on their own, but somehow Carlos has found time to rehab an old home in Riverton and become an active, integral part of the community.

Being busy never kept Carlos from his true passion: cycling. He has raced his bicycle up and down the East Coast for at least 15 years and loves the sport. Soon after moving to Riverton in 2008, he conceived of the Riverton Criterium. According to Carlos, not all criterium races happen on the little streets of a lovely historic town. Some are in corporate parking lots, so a criterium in Riverton was sure to be a hit for the cycling community. After presenting the idea to our town council, the event was born in 2011.

This year, the Historic Riverton Criterium will have its 14th anniversary. This race brings a huge group of diverse people from all over to watch, volunteer, and participate, and Carlos has brought all of his energy and enthusiasm to run the event. Not only is town approval needed, but so is county approval because our Main Street is a county road. Insurance, set up, advertising, clean up, gathering volunteers and equipment, and all the details needed to make a successful event fall on Carlos’ shoulders. Plus, proceeds from the race benefit local organizations. Recent beneficiaries include the Historic Society of Riverton, the school and PTO, the Steamboat Landing Foundation, and the Riverton 4th of July Committee. To date, the criterium has dispersed over $60,000.

In his free time, Carlos is working with a team to bring back the Philadelphia Cycling Classic, an international event and America's top cycling classic, which ran for 30 years up the Manayunk “Wall.” The cycling race has not been held in 10 years, so bringing it back is a herculean effort. It will be sanctioned nationally and internationally and will cost several million dollars to jumpstart. 

Although a Philly boy, Carlos Rogers calls Riverton his adopted town. He is proud to raise his son here and is grateful for all of the community support his projects have received. How lucky Riverton is to have such a dynamic, energetic, and creative person as one of our own. Riverton 4th of July Committee is proud to have him serve as the 2025 Riverton 4th of July Parade Marshal!

by Tracy Hansen Foedisch