$500,000 gift makes Cascade's whitewater park a reality

Thanks to a generous gift from Mark and Kristina Pickard of Miami, Fla., Idaho’s first formal whitewater park will become a reality in Cascade.

The Pickards, who own a vacation home in Tamarack and are often anonymous philanthropists, have stepped into the spotlight by committing $500,000 to the Friends of the Cascade Whitewater Park. The whitewater park will be named in honor of Kristina’s late sister, Kelly Brennan.

“We love Valley County and are excited by the stimulus the park will create both in Cascade as well as in neighboring areas”, the Pickards said.

This donation puts the whitewater park fund-raising effort over the top. In response, the engineering and other efforts are to proceed with all possible speed.

According to Cascade Mayor R. W. Carter, the in-river construction of Kelly's Whitewater Park can be largely completed this fall provided all time lines can be met.

Preliminary economic analysis suggests that Kelly's Whitewater Park will add in excess of $1 million in retail business annually to area merchants. Further economic studies are in progress at the University of Idaho, with reports due out this May. Whitewater parks have been wildly successful in improving the economies of their home cities and surrounding areas.

For many years, Cascade has considered a greenbelt, running along the North Fork of the Payette River from the Idaho 55 bridge on the south end of town to the highway bridge at the north end of town, for walking and bicycling. The Kelly Whitewater Park is expected to be the foundation of what is now envisioned as a 200-acre park along the North Fork.

The park will feature three man-made rapids offering kayakers, rafters, canoeists and even tubers an exciting place to play and train. Scheduled competitions will attract whitewater competitors and a large number of spectators who will undoubtedly enjoy the Kelly's Whitewater Park and the surrounding Cascade area.

“I would like to thank Mark and Kristina,” said Carter, who is also the Friends Board president, “for their interest and faith, in what will be Idaho’s first whitewater park.”

The whitewater park idea began in 2006, with Carter and other members pushing for the project. The Friends of the Cascade Whitewater Park was organized in 2007 and was granted official non-profit status in 2008.