AUSTIN – What started as a pandemic-era thought has grown into a citywide mission here: to create a park centering on whitewater rapids in the middle of downtown, creating better water quality and spurring future development.

The Austin Whitewater on the Cedar project has garnered community support over the past year, ever since a Hormel Foods Corp. engineer dreamed the idea up while trying to figure out how to kayak down the Cedar River.

"At the same time, Albert Lea was dredging their lake and I thought, 'What does Austin have that they could capitalize on?,'" said Nate Smit.

After hearing about similar projects in other parts of the U.S., Smit reached out to a number of advocates in the area, including the Mower County Soil and Water Conservation District and the city's tourism board — Discover Austin — to drum up support. Though city officials weren't on board at first, Smit and others slowly convinced them to come around.

"We were kind of like the heretics," Smit said. "Everybody couldn't understand how we could do this in a flat county, but some city officials got it."

Advocates commissioned a feasibility report last year that laid out how whitewater rapids could work along the Cedar River, which has two dams in town that restricts travel currently. One dam, at Fourth Avenue NE., was built more than a century ago to divert water to a defunct mill and create a sizable pond near downtown.

In the feasibility report, Colorado-based firm Recreation Engineering & Planning recommended modifying the 11-foot high dam to create ladder drops along the Cedar, stretching about a half-mile from Mill Pond to Oakland Avenue.

"Think of it like a staircase coming down," city engineer Mitch Wenum said.

Workers would drop boulders and other natural amenities to create whitewater rapids. The city also could connect the park to existing trails, install stone terrace to create amphitheater seating near the river and provide access steps and other features to cross the Cedar, so people who aren't kayaking or tubing can enjoy the view.

"It's going to anchor our downtown," Austin Mayor Steve King said.

King touted the project as an improvement in the Cedar River's water quality that would allow fish to travel upstream for the first time in decades, as well as address ongoing problems with the Fourth Avenue dam. He also envisions the project spurring future development as business owners and home builders take advantage of the amenity.

"If there was never anybody to never step foot and do anything remotely related to kayaking down that waterway, just the beautification and dam rebuilding is all I'm asking for," King said.

The city of Austin is about to commission a predesign of the proposed park, which they'll use next year to get approval from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to change the river. The Austin City Council last month voted 6-1 to spend $25,000 on predesign services. Other community groups including the Hormel Foundation gave about $60,000 to get designs going.

The project's future depends on permitting from the DNR and other regulatory agencies, as well as outside funding. Consultants estimate the park would cost about $10 million to build, but the city could refine that number as the design gets underway.

It's unclear where Austin could get that money. Wenum said city officials haven't discussed state bonding or Legacy amendment dollars, but they do hope to apply for grants to pay for most of the project.

Though it isn't a done deal, supporters are encouraged that the project is a lot further along than it was a year ago, Smit said. Once done, Austin would be the first city to have a whitewater rapids park in Minnesota, beating out other cities like Mankato that've considered similar projects.

"It just goes to show you the power of taking a look at your community and how you can innovate and really create a treasure," Smit said.