Stories, Gear, and Outdoor Culture

January 1, 2024 was the first time Mill City Park ever hosted the event.

Outdoor New England's goal has always been to bring the community together and being a community driven hub

“Oh it was amazing, the crowd was huge. It was bigger than I thought," one competitor said. "A lot of locals which was really cool to see.”

Mill City Park has the potential to transform Franklin from a forgotten mill city to a viable player in the Lakes Region’s tourism industry

With an ambitious master plan anchored by an in-river whitewater park with an adjacent 13-acre land-based park and a 21-acre conservation area

By late 2016, the city began to embrace the park idea as a driver of economic development and even created an economic development team

The Winnipesaukee’s significant drop just before that meeting point made it a prime location for mills, an opportunity soon seized upon. The first to harness the power of Franklin Falls were saw, grist and shingle mills, active by the 1770s, followed by woolen, pulp and hosiery mills. 

Less than two months after its grand opening during Winni River Days, the Franklin Whitewater Park is already proving its ability to attract paddlers.

Six years of work at transforming the Three Rivers City from a former mill town to that of a modern micro-urban community reached its goal on June 17 with the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Mill City Park’s first river feature — a stationary wave that allows kayakers to hone their skills while remaining in one spot — and an amphitheater for spectators to watch the river activities.

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.