By Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner
August 5, 2024
NORFOLK, Nebraska — One Nebraska community can finally answer the question: where can I surf?
That’s because Norfolk has recently opened a three-mile-long “whitewater park” through the center of this northeast Nebraska city that has seven engineered rocky rapids, including one that provides enough of a wave for “river surfing.”
Since the North Fork Whitewater Park — located on a fork of the Elkhorn River that gave Norfolk its name — opened in early June, it has drawn a steady flow of visitors to float through the rapids on kayaks, inner tubes and other inflatable craft or to just walk along a once neglected waterway best known for frequent flooding.
As she walked along the river with a friend and a cousin fitted with helmets and life jackets, Charity Eberhardt, a 19-year-old college student from Norfolk, proclaimed the whitewater park a big hit.
“I’d never gone tubing or down rapids before this, but we’ve gone down the river almost every weekend since it opened,” Everhardt said. “It’s fun.”
Norfolk Mayor Josh Moenning said he met a kayaking group from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and family groups during a recent float down the river. He said he has seen social media posts from people in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota and from as far away as Connecticut and California.
On a recent weekday evening, a group was swimming in the river as a pair of kayakers were pulling out and another pair paddling on inner tubes moved on. Then two girls on inflatable rafts floated by, followed by a man and two children on an inflatable couch like those pulled behind speed boats. A woman along the stream snapped photos as the kids giggled by.
The rapids were built using huge limestone rocks salvaged from the Norfolk Regional Center. The flow is regulated by a diversion dam built in the 1960s to prevent flooding that had previously inundated the city’s downtown area and Johnson Park in central Norfolk.
A combination of grants, city funds and private donations paid for the $3.5 million renovation of the formerly slow-moving river. The project also includes a hike/bike trail, a new bridge — to allow kayak access underneath — and the renovation of Johnson Park to include a unique “natural” playground and an outdoor amphitheater that seats 350-400.
Moenning said the whitewater park is a major part of the city’s push to revitalize its downtown area, which is adjacent to the whitewater park, utilizing a river that attracted the first settlers to Norfolk.
“This was an opportunity to breathe new life into our community,” he said. “It was a quality-of-life moon shot that will attract visitors and spawn economic growth.”
Nebraska communities have tried many approaches as they seek to retain young people and attract new residents. Water parks and historic restorations of main streets are among them, as well as affordable housing projects and, in a couple of small towns, free lots on which to build homes.
Creating whitewater attractions for tourism and economic development, though, is a relatively new strategy.
In Kearney, a group of kayaking enthusiasts helped develop a 2.3-mile kayak trail on Turkey Creek about a decade ago. Two years ago, two water drops, with rapids, were added.
“Everyone in town has boats now. Everyone is getting out and using it,” said Jason Thee, who owns Kearney Paddle Sports and is a former president of the Kearney Whitewater Association.
Norfolk, Thee said, “won’t even know what hit them once the word gets out.”
“They’re going to bring in a lot of visitors,” he said.
While Nebraska has plentiful rivers for float and kayak trips, it’s a challenge to find areas of whitewater rapids.
Rocky Ford, at the end of the wildly popular canoe/kayak stretch on the Niobrara River, is the best known, but its turbulent rapids are recommended for experts only.
The Dismal and Snake Rivers in Nebraska’s Sandhills have some swift-moving segments and some low waterfalls, but not the type of “whitewater” seen in Colorado, Utah or Wyoming.
So whitewater parks such as those developed in Norfolk and Kearney are unusual.
Moenning said that when he was first elected mayor, he heard a constant refrain of how “there’s nothing for young people to do” in the city.
Developing a riverfront area along the North Fork had been discussed for years, but it wasn’t until a decade ago that the idea of developing a whitewater park first took hold.
So far, besides waves of kayakers and folks on float tubes, the development has spawned a multi-unit housing development along the whitewater trail and discussion of a new restaurant there, according to Moenning.
Already, he said, redevelopment of Norfolk’s downtown area has created an eight-block-long entertainment district with 20 restaurants and snack shops, 15 bars and 15 retail shopping outlets.
Plus, Moenning said, he’s discovered there’s a “subculture” of people who like to kayak and river surf and are willing to drive to Norfolk to get their feet wet.
So far, the mayor said, the investment in the whitewater park — which required no tax dollars — is paying off in increased visitors from out of town and increased interest in downtown redevelopment.
“It shows there’s no harm in thinking big,” he said.
Senior Contributor Paul Hammel covered the Nebraska state government and the state for decades. Previously with the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha Sun, he is a member of the Omaha Press Club’s Hall of Fame. He grows hops, brews homemade beer, plays bass guitar and basically loves traveling and writing about the state. A native of Ralston, Nebraska, he is vice president of the John G. Neihardt Foundation. Hammel retired in April but continues to contribute to the Nebraska Examiner.
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