Stories, Gear, and Outdoor Culture

Now that the mills are long shuttered, the river is making a comeback, not as a driver of industry, but as a nexus of recreation and exploration of the natural world.

It’s been a long time coming but the first whitewater park in New England will be officially opened Friday – not that the lack of ribbon-cutting has kept kayakers from trying it out for months.

While highlighting a unique relationship between two nonprofit groups, and to the delight of prospective snow kayaker Belle England, Boat Bash Snow Crash returned Saturday to cap off the 60th Franklin Winter Carnival.

The City of Franklin, NH, is looking forward to the completion of a whitewater kayaking park on the Winnipesaukee River, the first of its kind in the northeast.

In celebrating the start of 2022 on Saturday, Dana Glow also ticked cold whitewater rafting off his bucket list.

Kayaking may not be the first thing that comes to mind at the start of winter unless your name is Marty Parichand.

Parting the waters of the Winnipesaukee River to create a new standing wave in Franklin’s emerging white-water park is no easy feat.

“Every downtown has to reinvent itself,” said Todd Workman, whose nonprofit has been involved in renovating about a dozen buildings along Central Street, the city’s main drag."

“To see the river come back” and for it to again become an economic driver of the city “is very exciting,” said Kuster, who recently voted in favor of the INVEST in America Act, which among other things, would bring $1.2 million to Franklin for construction of a pedestrian walkway on a trestle bridge that connects Mill City Park with Trestle View Park.

His dream was to turn the Winnipesaukee River, as it flows into downtown Franklin, into a playground for paddlers.

Harrington had been a homebrewer since 2009, back when he lived in Texas. He worked for a brewing company there before he came to New Hampshire. When he learned about the potential of Mill City Park, the project to develop a white-water park in the center of Franklin, Harrington, his wife Shelly, and their friends Damon and Megan Lewis began plans to open Vulgar Brewing Company in Franklin.

Tourism businesses in the Lakes Region are hoping that a busy summer will snap them out of a year-plus skid they’ve been in since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Expressing that optimism were Governor Chris Sununu and other state officials, who visited Franklin to kick off the 2021 tourism season.