The Benton Courier

FLOAT ON DOWN Saline River Canoe Race, Family Festival planned for Saturday

By Destin Davis ddavis@bentoncourier.com

After several delays due to inclement weather, the Lyle Park Saline River Canoe Race and Family Festival is set for 9 a.m. on June 3. Saline River Canoe and Benton Parks and Recreation have partnered to bring canoe and kayak races back to the Saline River.

“Our first canoe race was in 2010, we did them consecutively every year until around 2018,” said Michael Sacomani with Saline River Canoe. “So there has been a hiatus from the race. But it’s always been a cool event.”

Sacomani said partnering with Benton Parks and Recreation made bringing the race back possible.

“Partnering with Benton

Parks came about because of our relationship with people at the department. We teach kayak classes in conjunction with the Parks. Through talking with Stephanie (Stephanie Jones, Director of Benton Parks) she mentioned wanting to have a festival or some sort of event and I mentioned that we used to have the canoe races,” said Sacomani.

“She wanted to bring that back and it honestly helped us to have a partner to facilitate some of this. There’s a lot of work that goes into this and it certainly helps to have them behind us.”

Check-in for the races is at 9 a.m. and race time is 10 a.m. The event is broken down into separate divisions. There is a recreational division, for people who aren’t looking to competitively race and competitive division. There are also solo and tandem divisions. To register as a solo participant the cost is $30 per individual and for a tandem for the cost is $60 per team. All participants will receive a medal, lunch and shirt for registering. The first through third-place division winners will receive trophies.

There is also a festival side of the event. Tyler Rollins with Benton Parks and Recreation said they will have games like Giant Jenga and baggo. There will also be food trucks, face painting and a bounce house provided by Saline River Canoe. Sacomani said they also plan to have live music performed throughout the day. He said the music will be more of an intimate setting than the normal concert with folk and acoustic performances.

To register for the event, visit the Benton Parks and Recreation website, SalineRiverCanoe.com, and call or register or in person at the River Center, 501-776-5970, 1800 Citizens Drive.

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2023-06-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

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