JACKSONVILLE, FLA. ? New Orleans has Bourbon Street, Miami has South Beach, and Jacksonville has the St. Johns River.

The river might not have the cachet of the others, but it is nevertheless the city’s centerpiece and will be featured prominently during Super Bowl week.

“The river is just a perfect backdrop for the Super Bowl in Jacksonville,” said Karen Chastain, a city attorney serving as the mayor’s liaison to the Feb. 6 championship game. “It’s an important item that we want to highlight and showcase.”

Organizers hope the river makes a lasting impression during the city’s first Super Bowl. The 310-mile, north-flowing river cuts directly through downtown Jacksonville and is just a Michael Vick pass away from Alltel Stadium. It also will provide the setting for most Super Bowl festivities.

“From an event standpoint, the river really draws everything together,” said Reid Sigmon, vice president of operations for the Super Bowl host committee. “It’s the focal point of all the activity.”

The Super Bowl’s two most prominent attractions — the NFL Experience and Superfest — have been set up along the downtown riverfront.

The NFL Experience is an interactive theme park that features more than 50 games. Superfest is a street festival that spans both sides of the river and has three main stages for three nights of free concerts.

There will be four luxury cruise ships docked in the riverfront area. The Radisson Seven Seas Navigator will be downtown. Three ships from Holland America will be about a mile north, but still visible from the area. And a Carnival cruise ship will be at the terminal, about 10 miles north of downtown.

Altell Stadium, site of Super Bowl XXXIX, is shown in this aerial photo from Jan. 21, 2004. Organizers hope the St. Johns River, left, makes a lasting impression during the city's first Super Bowl. The 310-mile, north-flowing river cuts through downtown Jacksonville and is a short walk from Alltel Stadium.

The cruise ships will provide the additional 3,000-plus hotel rooms needed to give Jacksonville enough accommodations to satisfy NFL requirements for hosting a Super Bowl. The game will draw about 100,000 visitors to the River City.

“The cruise ships were a creative solution to our hotel problem,” Chastain said. “They display the river nicely and create a temporary infrastructure for hotel rooms.”

The river will be lined with boats and yachts, and a fleet of water taxis will shuttle people around downtown. Organizers expect the dozen or so water taxis to be a main source of transportation. They also anticipate that people will use a recently constructed riverwalk, which offers miles of paved walkway along both riverbanks, to navigate downtown.

The riverwalk will provide prime viewing spots for the Feb. 3 boat parade. The football-themed parade will feature illuminated boats of all sizes traveling through the St. Johns River and will be followed by the first of three nights of fireworks.

“The river is absolutely a unique factor to this Super Bowl with the cruise ships, the lighted bridges, the water transportation,” Sigmon said. “All of those are things people will always remember about this game. People are going to be very impressed with the beauty of the river and it’s importance to this community.”