Grassroots initiative keeps Grand River whitewater park idea afloat

A grassroots initiative to bring the rapids back to the Grand River and establish a whitewater kayaking and canoeing park from Riverside Park through downtown Grand Rapids is moving ahead, carried by a current of community support.

Grand Rapids White Water is the brainchild of Chris Muller, who returned to Grand Rapids after five years in Washington D.C. Muller missed the thrill of whitewater kayaking on the Potomac, which was easily accessible because of “park and play” areas.

“After work, I’d go home and get my boat and within an hour I’d be paddling some great whitewater,” he says. “But on the Grand it’s really too dangerous to go over the Fourth Street dam (also known as the Sixth Street dam) by Fish Ladder Park, so you can’t go from Riverside Park and end up down by Grand Valley (State University).”

Between Leonard and Fulton streets the rapids drop 18 feet – 13 of that is at the dam – but the dam and the deep backwater cover the rapids.

Muller and GRWW associate Chip Richards want to uncover the rapids and create what whitewater thrill seekers call eddy lines, holes and standing waves.

So they’ve begun the process of making GRWW a nonprofit, and then will hire an engineering firm to conduct a feasibility study of removing all or part of the dam.

“The defined item we’re trying to create is a whitewater park that includes park and play,” Muller says. He envisions a whitewater park generating economic activity for nearby restaurants, pubs and shops.

Muller is adamant that fishing below the dam isn’t adversely affected and that there are no negative environmental issues. Even so, there is still a lot of upstream paddling before any development can happen.

“It would bring a lot to Grand Rapids in addition to being a cool place to live,” he says. “The city is named after the river, but it’s not there to be usable.”

Source: Chris Muller, Grand Rapids White Water

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.