River group to manage crowds at kayak parks

SILOAM SPRINGS — People — and not just kayakers — love the Siloam Springs Kayak Park on the banks of the Illinois River.

And while it’s a good problem to have, it’s still a problem, Parks and Recreation Manager Travis Chaney told the city’s Board of Directors earlier this month.

The board approved a lease with the Illinois River Watershed Partnership to help manage the park south of town on the river. The partnership will manage the park from sunrise to sunset Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from the beginning of May until either the end of August or Labor Day for $58,984, Chaney said.

Other changes will include moving to a paid entry model for the times the partnership manages the kayak park, he said. The entry fee will be $10 per vehicle and will be payable through Apple Pay, Cash App and Google Pay.

From Monday through Thursday, the park will revert to city control and have free entry, Chaney said. The kayak park will also be free during the off-season, which begins after Labor Day and lasts until the following May, he said.

The partnership will close the gate when the 100-space parking lot is full, Chaney said. The group also will process payments, maintain the restrooms and empty trash, he said.

Chaney said 6,000 people were at the park July 4, 2022, and the park logged 57,000 visits last summer.

With only 100 parking spaces, many visitors have parked illegally on Fisher Ford Road, Chaney said. The Siloam Springs Police Department has a memorandum of understanding with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, which gives officers the authority to ticket illegally parked vehicles on Fisher Ford Road near the kayak park.

“The park was not designed to accommodate 6,000 people in one day safely,” Chaney said. “I believe the size of the parking lot was designed to accommodate the number of people who could roughly recreate there safely without it being a dangerous situation or destroying park infrastructure.”

The opinion of city staff is the current management strategy needed to change and that a more active management approach is needed, Chaney said.

The city issued requests for proposals, and, after weeding through them, settled on partnership, Chaney said.

Director David Allen called the proposal “idiot proof ” saying that this is what was needed to solve the problem.

“It’s a beautiful place,” Allen said. “We should protect it.”

The partnership plans to start a loaner program for life jackets. Director Mindy Hunt called it a great solution.

“It’s great that people are wanting to use the park,” Hunt said. “But it did become a bit of a problem in several areas.”

The park was funded by Walton Family Foundation grant and opened in 2014.