Ground breaks on French Broad River whitewater feature known as Taylor's Wave in Woodfin

After more than a decade of waiting, Woodfin residents, town officials and supporting organizations on June 21 celebrated the groundbreaking on Taylor's Wave — the free-standing whitewater wave projected to bring thousands of canoeists, kayakers and playboaters to the French Broad River in coming years.

Alongside the artificial whitewater wave, Woodfin also plans to install a greenway and expand the adjacent Woodfin Riverside Park as part of the Greenway and Blueway initiative. The expansion would include a viewing amphitheater, a play slope, and beach access near the wave, according to the expansion master plan.

The whitewater wave earns its name from Taylor Hunt, an expert paddler who died in 2015 at age 22 in a whitewater paddling accident in Ecuador. The name is in recognition of the Hunt family's dedication and financial support for the project since its inception.

Marc Hunt, a former Asheville City Council member and local whitewater rafting advocate, said his family is honored to have the wave named after his son.

Taylor Hunt was an avid outdoorsman and a whitewater instructor at Camp Mondamin in Henderson County, Marc Hunt said, noting that he was highly community oriented and passionate about whitewater paddling.

"It's simply people honoring and loving a river," Marc Hunt said of developing the wave. "Which is what Taylor was about."

The wave will be one of the few in the region that will be readily available for Western North Carolina's whitewater paddling community, which has an active base in Asheville-area rivers and streams. The only other artificial boating location is the Nantahala Outdoor Center in the Swain County town of Wesser, which has an artificial surfing hole.

Whitewater Wave is spawned

Hunt got involved in the project after repeatedly hearing about the possibility of whitewater wave projects in the region since as far back as 1997, he recalled.

After hearing about a similar possibility in Woodfin, Marc Hunt kayaked the French Broad with three-time men's slalom kayak Olympian Scott Shipley, who founded the Colorado-based S20 Design and Engineering, to find feasible locations. After the trip, Shipley landed on the location near Riverside Park as being the most likely and feasible location to develop the wave, Hunt said.

After years of work and discussion around the project, Marc Hunt said that, while he did have "some doubts" about whether they would get to this point, the groundbreaking was a time to celebrate.

"There's a lot of momentum now that we're all ramped up and moving forward," Hunt said. "It's gonna become a reality."

Project receives updated timeline

During the June 21 groundbreaking, Woodfin Town Manager Shannon Tuch noted the project represents a "decade of work" that is "deeply rooted in partnership," as it aims to add more recreational options, aid with community climate resilience and expand wildlife habitats.

With the help and advocacy of Asheville-based nonprofit RiverLink, the town received nearly $19 million toward the whole of the project from the Buncombe County Commission in 2022 and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority delivered a total $8.3 million in tourism taxes for the development of Taylor's Wave and the Riverside Park expansion.

The entire project is estimated to cost around $35 million, Woodfin Town Manager Shannon Tuch told the Citizen Times in May.

At that time, Woodfin town officials told the Citizen Times that they expected Taylor's Wave to be completed by the end of 2024 with the rest of the Riverside Park expansion likely continuing into 2025. However, the timeline for construction has now been updated.

The wave will likely be completed closer to spring or summer 2025 due to construction on the cofferdam — an enclosure that allows a dry working environment while working underwater — taking more time than anticipated, Hunt said. The town of Woodfin plans to have the wave available to surfers once all in-stream construction is completed.

As for the rest of the greenway and blueway project, Hunt said the current timeline estimates all greenways attached to the project would likely be fully open in 2027.

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: French Broad River Taylor's Wave, park expansion breaks ground