Things looking up for flotilla extension

So, last month we talked about possibly extending the annual Beaver Creek Flotilla route all the way down to Roy Arthur Stormwater Park off Harrell Road. At the time, we felt like we wouldn’t be able to make the deadline.

But guess what? It looks like we will have a lot of the major blockages cleared by Aug. 14, which is when the community hosts the event. That would add an additional 2.45 miles to the journey as an option – if the organizers are interested. Now don’t get me wrong, our crews are still trying to clear out that area, so it might not be the prettiest or smoothest stretch at the moment. But it is floatable.

For those who don’t know, the Knox County Water Trail is a 44-mile stretch of navigable water that runs through five communities between Clayton Park in Halls and Melton Hill in Hardin Valley.

A key part of it is a 2-mile piece that runs from Powell High School to the Weigel’s store at 7505 Clinton Highway. Each year the community hosts an annual flotilla that sees more than 100 kayaks, canoes and paddleboarders make their way down the stream. The event is designed to showcase the creek and its designation as a water trail.

“The regular part of the flotilla will be smooth but the other part – there’s some thin water and you’ll have to navigate around some fallen trees, but it can be done,” said Jason Halliburton, the superintendent of maintenance for the Knox County Parks and Recreation Department.

Halliburton said his crews plan to have the rest of the stretch that runs to Harrell Road completely cleared out by this fall. Halliburton added that he and a contractor floated the entire run – including the proposed extension – earlier this week and it took about 4 hours. Why so long? They were counting trees that will have to be removed at some point.

“We have 370 total trees to move but you can still get around and navigate although ultimately they’re going to have to come out,” he added. “Some of the trees are on the bank or overhanging. Some of them are considered future work but we want to get a handle on it now, so we’re not having to maintain it later. That said, there’s probably 10 or so jams piled up that vary in sizes from three trees to 10 trees.”

In other parks news, our crews are spending a lot of time and energy cleaning and fixing vandalism.

“It seems like it’s rampant right now,” Halliburton said. “We’ve had a lot of fences and bathrooms vandalized in the past month.”

Still, the work must go on. That means, mowing and going, working on signage (big shout out to our one-man machine Frank Christian); and fixing scoreboards at John Tarleton and Ball Camp parks.

We’re getting ready for the annual National Youth Football Kick-Off Classic, which takes place this weekend at John Tarleton, so our folks have the fields looking sharp!

The KMYFL – our league – kicks off on Aug. 14 and 16 and Youth League Baseball/Softball practice has begun.

Richard and his crew have been doing some sidearm mowing at the parks and cleaning up the trails, and our carpenters have been working on some of the facilities.

The Concord Park crew has spent some time repairing potholes and filling in the ruts in the parks out west, pressure washing vinyl fences by the Par 3 golf course and painting over graffiti on the pumphouse.

Enjoy this carousel of photos from this week’s projects.