WOKA Kayak Park
The WOKA Kayak Park is under construction at the Arkansas/Oklahoma border on the Illinois River. When opened in 2023 this $32 million dollar facility will attract world-class paddlers and provide a tourism-based economic engine for the area. It will include paved bike trials to Siloam Springs, AR, and place into a Land Trust over 1,000 acres of undeveloped Ozark forestland.
Conner & Winters lawyers John Elrod and Vicki Bronson negotiated and drafted the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA), the City of Siloam Springs, and the Walton Family Foundation and drafted the necessary land title documents to bring this magnificent project into existence.
Pictured in the video is the kayak course in its state of construction as of July 2021. It was blasted out solid limestone around an existing dam on the Illinois River with a drop of one foot per 100 linear feet.
Permitting and approving agencies included the Army Corps of Engineers as well as various state agencies in Arkansas and Oklahoma. The GRDA will be the owner and operator of the Park. Kudos to the GRDA, the City of Siloam Springs, and most importantly, the vision and support of Jim Walton and the Walton Family Foundation.