Montgomery Whitewater celebrates one year since opening
This month marks the first anniversary of Montgomery Whitewater, the city’s outdoor recreation complex.
The 120-acre complex is one of only three in the country of its kind. The others are located in North Carolina and Oklahoma.
“Whitewater demonstrates the quality of life,” Kenny Ward, Jr., of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce said. “Fun, what it is to do here in Montgomery. As I like to say, come for vacation stay for a lifetime, work play, live here, retire here, Montgomery has it all.”
Phase one opened with rafting and kayaking, concerts, a restaurant and outfitter store. But more is coming.
“We’re soon to open up some trails, zip courses, there’s just a little bit for everyone so we’re still in the infant stages but there’s a lot to come,” Jeffery Guston, Montgomery Whitewater CEO, said.
In its first year, Montgomery Whitewater has hosted U.S. Open Whitewater Championships, the 2024 Canoe Slalom and Kayak Cross Olympic Team Trials and been the site of emergency responder training.
Some visitors are surprised by everything that the complex has to offer.
“Because we’re getting ready to go on a trip to Tennessee, we wanted to take them here to warm them up before they go on that trip. So to us, it’s a great way of introducing people to whitewater rafting,” Jeff Allison, the youth pastor of Liberty Church in Birmingham, said.
Montgomery Whitewater is located at 1100 Maxwell Boulevard, just off Interstate 65 south of the Alabama River and next to Maxwell Air Force Base.
