After overcoming months of Hurricane Helene setbacks, the long-awaited Woodfin Wave project is nearing the finish line at Riverside Park. The $4.8 million project – which aims to install a world-class surfing wave in the French Broad River – is expected to open to the public this summer.
“We think it's going to transform this small town,” Woodfin Mayor Jim McAllister said. “Everywhere I go in town, people are asking me ‘When can we get in?’ There's a buzz about it all over the place.”
The free-standing wave could serve as a hotbed for surfers and kayakers, who can use the wave to practice flips, spins and other tricks. The project’s planning committee traveled to a premier hydraulics lab in Prague to test the design, ensuring it has an ideal combination of slope and height for water sports.
“We're talking about the river equivalent of the perfect surfing wave. Like Waimea Bay in Hawaii comes to Woodfin, North Carolina,” explained Marc Hunt, a local outdoors advocate and kayaker who is championing the project.
Hunt, a former member of Asheville City Council, has been pushing for the construction of a whitewater wave in the French Broad for decades. He first got involved with discussions about a wave when it was intended for Asheville’s River Arts District back in the 1990s.
“This is about the third or fourth generation of efforts to get something done,” he said.
After the wave failed to garner approval in Asheville, Hunt pitched the idea to then-Woodfin Mayor Jerry Vehaun. To Hunt’s surprise, Vehaun was immediately game. In 2016, Woodfin residents approved a $4.5 million municipal bond to fund the project.
The wave is just one piece of a larger $35 million project that aims to rework the river corridor between Asheville and Woodfin. The full plan, known as the Woodfin Greenway and Blueway Project, includes an extensive greenway and parks system and, when complete, will connect several sites in Woodfin – including Silver-Line Park, the Woodfin Wave and The Mill at Riverside, which houses artist studios – to Asheville’s River Arts District.
The project prioritizes restoration of the French Broad River’s river bank, especially at Woodfin’s Riverside Park, a portion of which used to be an industrial landfill. Woodfin is removing about 26,000 cubic yards of old construction material, including steel and concrete. The landfill cleanup should also help Woodfin become more resilient against future floods, said Shannon Tuch, Woodfin’s Town Administrator.
“We are creating constructed wetlands and other flood storage areas and bioretention so that when the river does flood — because we know it will — it will hold that flood water, store it and help potentially minimize damage downstream.”
Buncombe County has invested significantly in the project, providing Woodfin with $19 million in funding. The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority also chipped in about $8 million.
Vic Isley, President and CEO of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, sees the wave as a “terrific asset” that could attract international competitions, such as the International Canoe Federation World Cup.
“There are communities across the country that have invested in waves and they have proven very successful,” Isley said.
Mark Buckley, an economist with ECOnorthwest, has worked with several communities who installed these waves, including Bend, Oregon, which uses underwater “pneumatic bladders” to adjust the shape of its four waves. The attraction was installed in 2018 at a cost of about $10 million.
Buckley conducted a study that found more than a 100,000 people visit Bend’s whitewater park every year. In total, the wave adds about $26 million dollars annually to the local economy.
“When they're successful, they become such an iconic focal point for a community,” Buckley said. “Projects like these can be a great way to revitalize a former industrial zone or sleepy part of town.”
Cities all over the country have pursued this kind of transformation. There are more than 70 artificial waves across the United States, and that number’s growing every year.
Sara Arkle, the director of parks in Boise, Idaho, said that before her city installed a whitewater park, the Boise River was surrounded by a gravel pit and empty lots.
“And you look at it today and it is thriving with businesses, residential development, restaurants, green way connections, and a beautiful park,” she said.
Woodfin could use an economic boost like this, said Tuch, the town administrator. For most of the 20th century, Woodfin primarily operated as a manufacturing community. Since the 1980s, much of the textile industry has declined, with major textile makers like Burlington Mill Complex and Martel Mills shutting down.
“We’re not as based in manufacturing as we once were,” she said. But the Woodfin Wave, and accompanying parks system, could attract a new kind of commerce and industry, which relies on the river for outdoor recreation rather than manufacturing. Tuch said Woodfin is doing a “comprehensive review” of the town’s zoning code now to help encourage responsible growth along the river corridor.
“We hope that this project will catalyze some additional economic development along the river area,” she said. “We hope to see more lodging, restaurants, retail, gear shops and bike rental facilities.”
