Water Park Play

/ August 18, 2015

Water Park Play

Siloam Springs Water Park

Family fun at Siloam Springs Kayak Park by Dan Daniel

I’ve been talking about wanting to play and finally did on Saturday. I spent the day at a new water park in Siloam Springs, Arkansas called both Siloam Springs Kayak Park and Fishers Ford Whitewater Park. This city park was designed to be a fun place for families, kids and water enthusiasts of all shapes and sizes. The highlight are two man-made rapids that create standing waves for people to play and test their water skills.

Dan kayaking

photo of Dan by Chrissy Dennis

My friend, Dan, is in the foreground of this photo showing off his awesome kayaking skills. Dan was even part of the planning for this park. The intention is for the park to be a world-class kayaking destination. According to Dan, we aren’t there yet, but he has high hopes for the upgrade happening this fall.Siloam Springs Water Park

They even had free boats and lessons available on Saturday. The “Paddle and Learn” event was organized by Tracy and the Arkansas Canoe Club to help promote the park, water recreation and preserving our waterways. They had a great turnout of about 50 people who came to learn more about kayaking or try out a different boat like I did. I was able to try two different kayaks and learn some new skills so that next time I’m out, I can have more fun and be safer.Fishers Ford Whitewater Park

As you can see from the photos, the park was very busy. Many families were there to swim, play and picnic. The park has several great swimming areas, lots of picnic tables and the two main rapids. The kayakers were playing on the first rapid, while the kids played on the second one. We slip, slided and generally had a blast!

I would highly recommend this park to anyone who likes to play in the water. While many of our smaller creeks and rivers dry up in the summer, the water keeps running at Fishers Ford Whitewater Park due to its engineered design. Oh, and it’s free and open year round!

Surf’s up so it’s playtime!

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22 thoughts on “Water Park Play”

  1. Wow, that’s a most wonderful place for a good time 🙂 and your friend is amazing! How fun it would have been to learn!
    Take care, best wishes and regards.

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  6. Amazing Brad.. and those photo’s look great fun.. And how great that your friend got to help plan the park too. I am sure its an amazing place for families, The only paddling I would be doing though would be with my feet LOL..
    I have a memorable experience with boats and water when I was 14 in the Yatch club we were in at school.. I managed to capsize my maiden voyage with mast right under the deck 🙂 lol..

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      • Yes in capsizing lol 🙂 I had to wait for the rescue boat and right it myself by while another crew member of 3 lol screamed her head off in the water saying she was being sucked under (( we all had life jackets on ) I should have screamed too.. my class mates got a trip back to shore on the rescue boat.. I had to right the boat then got towed in bedraggled while onlookers looked On :-D.. haha.. so yes a real expert at sailing 😀

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  8. We have a park similar to that here in Florida, sans rapids – now that would be cool. This park looks like an awesome way to get people outside, enjoy the water, nature, and each other! Great job showcasing such a great local hangout spot. I hope you get to enjoy it often during these final days of the season 🙂

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    • Hi Jennifer. I haven’t been there in a while, but it was pretty small. Most people just play in the designed rapids area, paddle out and start over. You wouldn’t need a shuttle unless you wanted to go downstream.

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