Paddle in Your Park 2025
Paddle in Your Park & Mountainfilm at Dorey Park
Paddle in Your Park 2025 kicked off on April 6th at Dorey Park. Henrico Recreation and Parks hosted MountainFilm, an environmental documentary film festival. In partnership with Henrico Recreation and Parks, we wanted to offer people the chance to try their hand at paddling before settling in for the short films after dark. People attending the festival were able to kayak around the Dorey Park lake or try our whitewater raft demonstration. Paddle in Your Park boat demonstrations are our way to bring the paddling experience across the Richmond community. The events are free of charge, but we collect donation on behalf of Boys to Men Mentoring Virginia. Boys to Men is an incredible program devoted to connecting teenage boys with mentors who surround and support them at a crucial time in their lives. Some highlights from the event include seeing how much fun families have on the raft together. It serves as a great reminder of why we host these events, to bring people together through outdoor recreation.
Paddle in Your Park & Earth Day Festival at Deep Run Park
Paddle in Your Park at Earth Day Festival was unbelievable! On April 19th, a whopping 97 people came out to participate in our boat demonstrations. This event stood out due to a special collaboration with VCU students taking a class to learn about outdoor event management. As part of their final assessment for the class, they were charged with choosing an outdoor event to work in order to get real life experience in the field. A team of 5 students worked alongside our staff to coordinate and execute a truly incredible event. Henrico Recreation and Parks have done a great job with Deep Run Park, and it was great to see how the community showed up for the Earth Day Festival. There were many families with young children who were able to try paddling together for the first time. Encouraging a love and respect of the outdoors is an essential part of responsible recreation, and is something that we at RVA Paddlesports are very passionate about.
Inaugural Day of Service & PIYP at Forest Hill Park
On April 26th, we took to Forest Hill Park in partnership with the Mayor’s Inaugural Day of Service. Richmond residents were invited to participate in local community enrichment service projects. Trash bags and pickers were provided to park goers and they were encouraged to pick up as much litter as they could find. We wanted to provide paddling at Forest Hill Park Lake as a fun addition to the clean-up efforts. Many attendees went above and beyond and brought pickers out with them to gather trash from the middle of the lake. It was great to see so many people volunteering their time to make the park nicer for everyone who visits. We saw some familiar faces and recognized people from our events earlier in the month. It was wonderful to see that people are resonating with our Paddle in Your Park incentives and truly enjoy what our programming has to offer.
Paddle in Your Park at Hopewell City Park
On May 10th, we took Paddle in Your Park to Hopewell! This Paddle in your Park was special because it took place on a stretch of river, as opposed to a park lake. Hopewell City Park is located on Appomattox River and features a beautiful sandy beach that gives out to river shallows. Many people who came to enjoy the park that day were curious about the vessels on the beach, and were unaware we were hosting an event. We encouraged them to try out the kayaks and paddle boards that were laid out, and multiple families had a chance to try paddling for the first time. Some were even able to get a demonstration on our whitewater raft. The beautiful scenery and vibrant community of Hopewell made this Paddle in Your Park truly incredible! This was all thanks to Beyond Boundaries and the John Randolph Foundation, both of which who sponsored this event. We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with these organizations, as well as Hopewell Downtown and bring our love of paddlesports across the Richmond region.
Paddle in Your Park & Play All Day at Lakeview Park
June 20th, 2025 was the longest day of the year, and Virginia Recreation and Parks Society wanted to make sure there was a way for people to get outside and make the most of it. As a part of their Play All Day initiative, we brought Paddle in Your Park to Lakeview Park in Colonial Heights. We were one of the various planned activities individuals could participate in throughout the day. We had people stop by our tent, curious about our company and wondering about what it is we do. Even if individuals are not always interested in trying our boat demonstrations, it’s always great to talk about the whitewater community of Richmond and encourage people to try something new.
