I have some great news. For those you who know me, you know that I can be longwinded. In my defense, I like to give context and sometimes that makes my stories long.
In this case call yourself lucky, I only want to go back to a cold April day in 2018. Mike Harvey was in Franklin to continue his work for Recreation Engineering and Planning (REP), a Colorado based whitewater and outdoor engineering firm.
Mike cut his teeth on whitewater design in his home state of Colorado in 2000. He is a staple in the whitewater community and we've been absolutely stoked to have his expertise on this project from the very beginning.
While whitewater parks are a newer concept in the northeast they aren't for this planet. In 1972, the first artificial whitewater course was constructed in Augsburg, Germany for the Summer Olympics. Six years later, the United States got it's first whitewater park in Mike's hometown of Salida, CO. To date, the state of Colorado has over 30 whitewater parks.
Alright, back to my story... When Mike talks, people in the whitewater world listen.
Knowing this ahead of time, we worked with Chris Kontoes to produce an interview series to try and answer some community questions regarding whitewater parks; what they are and how communities have been impacted because of them.
It boggles my mind, but the video series is now over six years old. On rough days, I go back and re-listen to his words. His statements showcase his knowledge and prior experience. Perhaps, more importantly, for our community, they totally foreshadow and give a glimpse into Franklin's future.
Above is our favorite video, but the complete series can be found on Mill City Park's YouTube Channel.
It isn't hard to relate to Franklin's situation. Mill town degradation is a phenomena that most people can relate to.
What isn't as clear is the process of breaking that cycle of decay.
Franklin, New Hampshire's Comprehensive Plan from 1967 states "The city has been living within the framework of the past for long enough. It is time to eliminate obsolescence, retaining historic assets wherever feasible, and rebuild the very center of the city to function efficiently in today's world."
From 1967 to 2015, there were countless studies that identified the blight occurring downtown, but there were no action plans to deal with it.
Instead of creating more reports instructing us to connect to the river corridor and to find more businesses to come to Franklin, our crew focused on creating something no one else in New England has, a whitewater park.
Mike's words in "What is unique in Franklin" are due to his experience. He succinctly illustrates the power of a transformed river corridor and its role in the mosaic that makes Franklin unique.
At this point, perhaps, I intrigued you, or perhaps, you are asking yourself why any of this matters.
Moving forward to 2022, we built one third of the whitewater park. Each year that goes by we see an increase in the users; fisherman, tubers, boogie boards, kids, parents, waders, swimmers, surfers, standup paddle boarders, spectators, don't forget about the dogs and yes, whitewater kayakers.
That one third of the project has had a positive impact on our community EXACTLY the way Mike predicted six years ago.
The impact is all around us, into buildings, businesses, and of course residents. If you want some verification from behind the computer screen make that little person in Google Maps walk up and down Central Street from 2015.
The impact is real. And after almost a decade, the end of the project is near.
The additional two whitewater features are now fully funded!
The City applied for grant funds through the Congressional Directed Spending Program to bring $2.5 million of federal funding back to Franklin for this project! Once the application was submitted, Senator Shaheen and her staff advocated for the project on the national stage!
Senator Shaheen has been a supporter of the project and Franklin for quite some time. Way back in 2017, the team had the opportunity to brief her on the potential of the project. Read more here.
Thank you to the Senator, this was the final piece to finish the project!
Our engineers are back on contract and have begun the process of preparing construction bid documents. This will support a winter procurement of the contractor charged with building the waves and most certainly a 2025 construction start date!
The work remaining is to:
Finish the pedestrian walkway under the bridge
Build whitewater feature #1, which will be a SURF WAVE at the top of the last rapid (this is about a thousand feet upstream of the current feature)
Build whitewater feature #2, which will be a hole feature (it will be between the Trestle Bridge and the Central Street car bridge, directly upstream of the current feature)
Lastly, it will create a deep low water channel to connect the two features
Senator Shaheen, we can't thank you enough for believing in this project as much as we do!
We are incredibly thankful to be doing this meaningful work in our community!
Gratefully,
Marty
Executive Director
Mill City Park
P.S. If our work is for you, if you've enjoyed it, if you support our community's revitalization on the back of outdoor recreation, if you've surfed the wave, or look forward to surfing the next one, if you believe in us...
Please, please, please consider donating here. We can't do this work without you.
We are a small group working in downtown Franklin with the goal of enabling the Winnipesaukee River to repower our community, and it is working!
