Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
It's time now for our community connection and we're talking with Mike dump with
Okay Water Sports, and my goodness, it's that time of year again.
We're going to get some warm weather and let's go play in the water.
That's right, I mean, it is that time of year. It's a
beautiful day out there today, and we're just looking forward to a great season,
a great summer, and hope everyone has a chance to come out to
Riversport now with river Sport. This is really a cool place. If you've
not been there, it's the best part of the fun of going to Oklahoma
City because when you think Oklahoma City sometimes you think bricktown. You think,
well, Okay, it's a it's a big city. You don't think about
the water too much. But you've changed everybody's way of thinking over the last
three or four years. Well, we'd like to think so. I mean,
this is truly unique, not only for our Oklahoma City, but really
for the whole state. This is there's really nowhere else on earth that has
everything that we have in a downtown area with the whitewater rafting, all the
kayaking, the tallest ropes core really of its kind in the country. So
it's a pretty unique thing that we have here. Now, correct me if
I'm wrong. You even have Olympic athletes who trained there on occasion, Am
I right? We do. We're an official US Olympic and Paralympic training site.
We're the only river in the entire country with that designation. So you
know, it's a really cool thing that you can come and go kayaking,
go rafting on the same in the same places that these athletes train. So,
you know, we think, you know, we'd like to say a
lot, talk a lot about authenticity that this is not a theme park.
I mean, you're having a lot of fun like you would at an amusement
park, but you're doing at a place that athletes trains and it's for everyone.
It is because there's a lot of amusement there. There's a lot of
fun. The whole family can participate. You're gonna get some exer signs,
you're gonna get some sunshine, you're probably gonna get you a little bit wet,
but for most of all, you're gonna have fun. That's right,
I mean fun. You know, we love to see all the smiles and
I mean this is it's truly incredible that you have Class three and four.
It's right here in downtown Oklahoma City. You know, we have professionally trained
raft guide so you don't need any experience and uh and you're just gonna have
a total blast. I mean it used to be to go to Colorado to
do something like this, and we have it right here. And not only
that, we've got surfing as well now and tubing and skiing and you know,
just so we'll keep you busy all day. Okay, you had me
at surfing. I'm an old Florida boy. So now we had some gentle
waves on the Gulf coast, a little bit more exciting on the Atlantic coast.
I can't wait to see what kind of what kind of surf you have
right there in Okac. Yeah, we have a surf Okac, which is
a it's a flow rider system. We're actually going to have a national championship
for surfing this summer. But it's something everybody can do. You can you
can just bodyboard if you don't want to do the stand up, but we
you know a lot of people start you know, doing the bookie boarding,
then they learn to stand up and we've got some people that are kind of
real pros here right in right in Oklahoma City. So it's it's pretty cool.
Catch a wave and okay, see, I love it. I love
it. And on top of that, it's affordable. Families can go there
and have a good time, and you know, really it could be an
annual event for for some families. You have a little bit, a little
bit of a drive, it's well worth it though. Yeah, I mean,
you can spend the whole day, like I said. And then we're
right next to Bricktown, so it's it's just a great family destination for folks
across the state. And uh, and you're, like you said, it's
affordable and you can do things here that you just can't do anywhere else.
I mean by literally walking from surfing to snow skiing within just a couple hundred
feet. We have a new snow skiing snowboarding simulators. So these are things
you would never think you could do in Oklahoma. Wow. I like this.
You know, you're you're keeping folks home and they're enjoying it, getting
to see pretty much the different sporting thing is that they could see in the
world all right here in their own backyard that is. How did you come
up with this idea? Well, you know, we wanted to kind of
bolster active outdoor culture, you know, here in Oklahoma. And you know,
we recognize we don't have mountains or we don't know the ocean, but
we you know, we we have this opportunity to create something that really no
one's ever done before. And you know, it's starting to work and just
getting more people active and realizing that, you know, we do have a
lot of water in Oklahoma, so this could ignite an interest in getting into
paddling. You know, you don't have to just be in Oklahoma City to
do that, but we can teach you and show you all these different things
that you can do, and then and then maybe decide, hey, I
want to go to Colorado and do real, real whitewater rafting you know at
some point, or kayaking. But you know, we have you're not compromising
here because we've got the full on Class three and four rapids right here.
So wow, this is amazing. You can shoot the rapids, you can
do some snow skiing and even some surfing too, while enjoying the nice Oklahoma
City skyline. How y'all like that? Talk about bonus. Yeah, we
joke. A lot of people are so surprised, even people from Colorado are
coming here to go whitewater kayaking because it's you know, you can stay on
the water all day, you ride up a conveyor belt, there's no busting
involved, you know, and so you know, it can be a full
day on the water and you're staring at a skyline as you're going down the
rapids, which I think is about the only place in the world you do
that. Usually you're in the mountains or somewhere in the forest. Oh man,
this is really too much. This is really too much. You know,
I'm very proud of you folks for having the ingenuity and the wherewithal and
being able to create the resources in order to make this possible for all Oklahomas.
This is really a treasure. You know when people say Oklahoma, how
about that? Well, hey, how about how about what's going on over
there in your backyard? Yeah? And you know, the cool thing about
it is, again for us, we're a nonprofit. This is about you
know, encouraging act of outdoor lifestyles and we have programming that that families can
get involved in. You know, we have we have classes. You know,
you could learn to learn to row or learn to kayak and ultimately can
lead to, like like I said, a new a new hobby, a
new interest. So you know, I think it's there's there's really something for
everyone. And literally we've got a mini ropes course for for five year old
or to given three year old. We have tiny little harnesses so you can
truly bring you know, all ages to this and have a blast. Well,
this is just too much fun. This is just too much fun,
folks. You're going to have to see it for yourself. You're gonna have
to enjoy it for yourself. Get immersed in it too. What is your
website so folks can read up on it. Yeah, it's River Sport OKC
dot org and it has all the information about our passes and our schedule.
We have a lot of events um coming up. In fact, we've got
a large scale rowing event this weekend, and we've always have something going on.
Another thing I highlight is new to the venue is Barquey which is a
very large dog park and restaurant and bar that is on the property. So
that's a really cool new feature so you can bring your dog. This is
this is too much fun. And where are you located? Right? You're
right there by Bricktown. What's your physical address? We're eight hundred River Sport
Drive, so we're just south of Bricktown. Very easy to get to.
So you're a halfway. You're halfway between there and Toby Keiths Hit. We're
right just south of Toby Keats. So if you follow the canal you'll end
up in the boathouse and the street at River Sport. Well, whatt dog?
You know? I know, I can see it right now. I
can see it right now. This is too cool. So, folks,
if you're looking for a nice little getaway that's not all that far but still
a million miles from anywhere, it's right here in your own backyard. It's
a in Oklahoma City. It's at River Sport, and you gotta you just
gotta check this out. Now. Do we need reservations? Now? You
can just show up. You can book you can get your passes in advance
online. So it's really up to you on what you do. Our saturdays
can get pretty busy, so but but there's plenty to do. So I
encourage you to check out our website and come on out. I want to
thank you very much for being on here with us today. And I've given
us a little sunshine, a little bit of a smile here too, And
of course a great idea for a great getaway. I'd make it Oklahoma City,
make a river sport. Well, we welcome everyone down. We promise
you we'll put a smile in your face and you'll have a job a lot
of fun.