Workers Make Final Preparations At Zink Lake Before Big Dam Party

Zink Lake is full, the pedestrian bridge is finished, and the new river flume is undergoing final testing before the Labor Day weekend party.

Fifty years or so of thinking about it have finally led to this — a permanent recreational feature on the Arkansas River. It all opens for the first time to the public on Friday at 3 p.m., and so Thursday was all about final preps.

John and Linda Baker were some of the first people to see the spectacle of someone surfing on the Arkansas River.

“I told my wife, ‘I wish I was 20 years younger so I could do this. It looks fun,’” John said.

The people surfing — or trying to — are professionals working out the finer points of controlling the action of the water in the flume. Now that Zink Lake is fully flooded and the gates on the dam are mostly closed, the new attractions on the river look almost finished. As workers washed down the pedestrian bridge, called Williams Crossing, landscapers continued work between the bridge and trails into Gathering Place.

Zink Lake Water Quality Dashboard

The fire department had crews visiting to get familiar with the flume before it opened. The last step of heavy construction is wrapping up on the shoreline to create even more green space overlooking the lake. Further up Riverside Drive, a new parking lot at 18th Street opens on Friday in anticipation of more people wanting a view of the river, the lake, and the flume.

The mayor will lead a procession over Williams Crossing as part of the opening Friday, and then the public can again walk from one side of the river to the other. The Bakers came away from their preview impressed.

“It's beautiful, wonderful. We were just talking about how long it's been in the making, and that's it's finally actually here,” Linda said.

“And that someone's imagination was able to turn into reality,” said John.

What is being called “The Big Dam Party” starts tomorrow afternoon and runs through Labor Day. There will be concerts on Saturday and a raft race on Monday.

The expectation is that the crowds at Zink Lake on Labor Day weekend will become more of a regular thing.