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Cities around the country look to Boise as a model for whitewater parks

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The second phase of the Boise Whitewater Park hasn't even begun yet but people around the country already seem to want what Boise's got.

"Really what you have is a really unique recreational water feature that really isn't what you would see in a lot of different cities," said Boise Parks and Recreation Director Doug Holloway.

Several cities including Des Moines, Iowa, and Bend, Oregon have actually called the City of Boise trying to figure out exactly how it was done. 

"They are saying we have a river too so how do we make this work," said Holloway.

While Holloway said it can be done, he also said it can't be done as well as Boise has done it, mainly because of the support from donors and the other water features we have in the area. 

"You need an Ester and a Quinns to really tie into it to create that synergy that we have been really fortunate enough to create here," explained Holloway.

And all of those features are free of cost to use which makes them so valuable to the citizens.

As for words of advice to other cities.

"Our advice is to make that you have a really highly engaged community when you are embarking on something like that," said Holloway.

He said they also told them to engage donors and try to get them a part of the process, and always remember, projects this large of a scale usually take longer than you anticipate.

While Boise is all about helping each other but at the end of the day the city is unmatched.

"We want to help any city that is interested in doing something like this, but in the end no one can do it better than the City of Boise," said Holloway. 

The City of Boise said they hope to begin phase two of the Whitewater Park within the next couple of weeks. They hope to have the project completed by Summer of 2019.