Rafting ribbon-cutting celebrates Riverside Park improvements

A small but ardent crowd of recreation enthusiasts joined together at Riverside Park late yesterday afternoon to celebrate the completion of

Recreation enthusiasts gather in front of the new bouldering wall to celebrate improvements to Riverside Park that also include two new in-stream waves in the whitewater park.

improvements, five years in the making, that include a new bouldering wall near the bandshell and two new in-stream river features bookending the whitewater park in historic downtown Salida.

A flotilla of kayaks, rafts and stand up paddlers paraded from the new wave at the top of the whitewater park to the second new wave behind the Scout Hut to celebrate the acheivement. In the lead raft and armed with an oversized pair of scissors, Salida City Councilman Scott Damman cut the ceremonial ribbon that spanned the Arkansas River just above the F Street Bridge.

Another raft was piloted by Salida Recreation Advisory Board co-chairman Bill Smith who asked rhetorically, “how much does this rock?” Smith said that ever since the park improvements were installed earlier this summer, Riverside Park has been busier than ever. “I’ve never been past here when someone hasn’t been on the bouldering wall and the new waves have worked out really well, especially for the new sport of stand up paddling.”

Honored guest and famed climber Bill Forrest, praised the new bouldering wall. “Any rock climber will think it’s top-notch,” huge praise from a giant in the climbing community. A legendary climber and outdoor gear inventor, Forrest developed new inventions for some 40 years. Founder of renowned Forrest Mountaineering, his climbing equipment designs won international design awards, with some of the gear now on display in the Smithsonian Institute. Forrest and his wife Rosa have lived in Salida the past dozen years. He reserved his biggest praise for local whitewater park builder Mike Harvey. “Kudos to Mike Harvey who got the funding and spearheaded this whole thing,” Forrest said.

In a speech thanking the numerous individuals and local businesses that contributed to the fundraising and construction of the park improvements, Salida City Councilman Jay Moore noted Riverside Park improvements were made possible by numerous grants including lottery funds from Great Outdoors Colorado and proceeds from Salida’s 2B ballot initiative, a voter-approved occupational lodging tax.

While clearly pleased to celebrate the achievements at Riverside Park, Smith took a moment to talk about what’s next for the city’s rec advisory board. With grant money drying up due to the weakened economy, Smith said the board will, by necessity, be focusing on smaller scale projects such as trail connectors, improvements at Marvin Park and a kind of remodel of Centennial Park.