MetroParks chairman says trip down Mahoning River was ‘a real eye opener’

Staff report

WARREN

John Brown, chairman of the Trumbull County MetroParks Board, says the opportunity he had last summer to kayak two hours from Thomas A. Swift MetroPark in Braceville Township to Canoe City MetroPark in Leavittsburg changed his opinion of the Mahoning River.

“It was a real eye opener of the natural beauty of the Mahoning River,” said Brown, who is also a Warren councilman.

“If I was on a vacation, that would be the highlight of my vacation,” he said of the trip organized by the MetroParks and Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

This Memorial Day weekend, others will get the opportunity to see the Mahoning River when Mahoning River Adventures of Cuyahoga Falls begins renting kayaks and equipment at the Canoe City MetroPark, 75 N. Leavitt Road, on May 25.

They will also transport kayakers and their equipment to the Swift MetroPark for a two-hour self-guided trip or Rotary Park in Newton Falls for a six-hour self-guided trip.

The trips end at Canoe City and cost $20 to $35 per kayak and $30 to $50 per tandem kayak and $10 per kayak and $20 per canoe for shuttle services.

Shuttle services are also available for people with their own equipment.

Zach Svette, project coordinator for the Trumbull MetroParks, says this will be the first time a kayak livery service will be available on the Mahoning River in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

Mahoning River Adventures will operate the service Friday through Sunday to start but will look at additional days after evaluating the enterprise, said Moneen McBride, one of the co-owners of the business.

They have operated a similar business called Burning River Adventures on the Cuyahoga River in the Kent-Cuyahoga Falls area for the past three summers.

“Rivers are great because you have ever-changing scenery,” said G. Brad McBride, the other owner. “It’s like nature’s conveyor belt. We saw a bald eagle the first time we paddled it.”

More information is available at their website, www.paddletheriver.com.