Bowling Green City Commission accepts $3.64 million grant for whitewater park along Barren River

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – During Tuesday’s City Commission meeting, a $3.64 million grant was approved to help fund the new whitewater park in Bowling Green.

The grant comes from the National Park Service’s Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership, or ORLP.

Neighborhood and Community Services director Brent Childers says it covers half the cost of the park, with the other half coming from the state and city.

Childers adds this grant is a huge boost for the city and the future of Bowling Green’s parks.

“This is really a complicated, dynamic project to pull off… and so this is really challenging to bring this together and make all this work. So without the partnership with the National Park Service and also with the state providing grant funds for 45% of the funding, this would be almost impossible for the city to pull off by itself,” he says.

A $5 million grant was also approved during the meeting to build a brand new subdivision of homes along KY-185 for those affected by the December 2021 tornadoes.