Groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the French Broad River Taylor’s Wave Park
After more than a decade of waiting, Woodfin residents, city officials and supporting organizations celebrated the groundbreaking on June 21 for Taylor’s Wave – the freestanding whitewater wave expected to bring thousands of canoeists, kayakers and recreational boaters to the French Broad River for years to come.
In addition to the artificial whitewater wave, Woodfin also plans to create a greenway and expand the adjacent Woodfin Riverside Park as part of the Greenway and Blueway initiative. The expansion would include an amphitheater, play slope and beach access near the wave, according to the expansion master plan.
The whitewater wave was named after Taylor Hunt, an experienced paddler who died in a whitewater paddling accident in Ecuador in 2015 at the age of 22. The name is a recognition of the Hunt family’s commitment and financial support to the project since its inception.
Marc Hunt, a former Asheville City Council member and local whitewater rafting advocate, said his family is honored that the wave was named after his son.
Taylor Hunt was an avid outdoorsman and whitewater instructor at Camp Mondamin in Henderson County, Marc Hunt said, noting that he was very community-oriented and had a passion for whitewater paddling.
“It’s just people who honor and love a river,” Marc Hunt said of the wave’s development. “And that’s what Taylor was all about.”
The wave will be one of the few in the region that is easily accessible to the Western North Carolina whitewater paddling community that is active in the rivers and streams of the Asheville area. The only other man-made boating location is the Nantahala Outdoor Center in the Swain County town of Wesser, which has a man-made surf hole.
Whitewater wave is created
Hunt became involved in the project after hearing repeatedly about the possibility of whitewater wave projects in the region since 1997, he recalls.
After hearing about a similar opportunity in Woodfin, Marc Hunt traveled the French Broad with three-time men’s kayak slalom Olympian Scott Shipley, who founded Colorado-based S20 Design and Engineering, to find suitable sites. After the trip, Shipley decided on the site near Riverside Park because it was the most likely and feasible location for the wave to be developed, Hunt said.
After years of work and discussion around the project, Marc Hunt said that while he had “some doubts” about whether they would get to this point, the groundbreaking was a cause for celebration.
“Now that we’re all up and moving forward, there’s a lot of momentum,” Hunt said. “It’s going to become a reality.”
Project receives updated schedule
At the groundbreaking on June 21, Woodfin City Manager Shannon Tuch noted that the project is the result of a “decade of work” that “builds on partnerships” as it aims to create more recreational opportunities, build community resilience to climate change and expand wildlife habitat.
With the help and advocacy of Asheville-based nonprofit RiverLink, the city received nearly $19 million from the Buncombe County Commission in 2022 for the entire project, and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority transferred a total of $8.3 million in tourism taxes for the development of Taylor’s Wave and the expansion of Riverside Park.
The entire project is estimated to cost about $35 million, Shannon Tuch, Woodfin’s city manager, told the Citizen Times in May.
At the time, Woodfin city officials told the Citizen Times that they expected Taylor’s Wave to be completed by the end of 2024 and the rest of the Riverside Park expansion would likely continue through 2025. However, the construction timeline has since been updated.
The wave likely won’t be ready until spring or summer 2025 because construction on the cofferdam — a casing that allows a dry working environment during underwater operations — is taking longer than expected, Hunt said. The Town of Woodfin plans to open the wave to surfers once all construction in the river is complete.
As for the rest of the Greenway and Blueway project, Hunt said that under the current schedule, all greenways connected to the project are expected to be fully open in 2027.
More: Research into urban renewal in south Asheville will be the subject of a local documentary
More: Woodfins Whitewater Wave is expected to be completed in 2024 as the only wave in WNC
Will Hofmann is the growth and development reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected]. Please support this kind of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
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