WOKA is transforming the town of Watts, Oklahoma.
Following 2016’s opening of the $45 million Oklahoma Whitewater Center/Riversport Rapids in downtown Oklahoma City, the town of Watts, Oklahoma, just opened its sibling as the state’s newest whitewater park: Waters of Oklahoma and Arkansas (WOKA) Whitewater Park. With philanthropic support from the Walton Family Foundation, the Grand River Dam Authority and the City of Siloam Springs, Ark., joined forces to create a national-caliber whitewater adventure park in the Ozark Mountains.
Opening in September, the $30 million project, funded in part by the Walton Foundation, is a 1,200-foot-long, 100-foot-wide side channel off the Illinois River featuring eight surfable drop features. It also has seasonal rentals, shop and concessions, and shaded viewing, as well as changing facilities and restrooms and access to nearby mountain bike trails. The result of a dam that failed 33 years ago and is now a world-class paddling site, the park caters to both experienced playboaters and families, with IK rentals, family tubes that can hold four people, and more.
“Failing dams create numerous challenges for river managers, but we seldom see them converted to world-class whitewater parks,” says Bekah Price of the River Management Society, whose Midwest chapter president ED Fite initiated and managed the project. “WOKA is beautifully and thoughtfully designed for both play boaters and families.”
In October the park members of RMS and its board to come experience the park firsthand. “It was a thrill and an honor for us all to see such an innovative project come to fruition after decades of planning and leadership under our Midwest Chapter president, Ed Fite, and the many partners who helped fund and develop this impressive park,” says Price.
If you visit, expect heart-pumping wave action for kayakers, surfers and tubers of all skill levels. You can also relax and enjoy the serene beauty of nature on a stand-up paddleboard or watch from the waterfront spectator seating.
The vision of WOKA began in 2011 in a conversation between Fite, former city administrator David Cameron and M.L. Van Poucke, mayor of Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Their city-owned and operated Lake Frances, an impoundment built in the upper reach of the Illinois River in Oklahoma, was originally a lake approximately 700 surface acres in size and used as the city’s raw water supply.
In May 1990, a portion of the main spillway area failed during a flood event. Some 21 years after the breach, the city partnered with the Walton Family Foundation to build a small “two drop” whitewater park at the Fisher Ford area on the Illinois River, approximately seven miles upstream of Lake Frances. Fite later contacted Cameron to suggest a similar project immediately adjacent to the Lake Frances Dam, building a whitewater course around that structure.
When the former Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission was consolidated into the Grand River Dam Authority, the WOKA Project began to solidify, thanks to an array of partners, agencies and supporters.
Info: WOKA