First of a two-part series
HUNTINGTON -- They see historical artwork along running/walking trails that line the banks of the Ohio River. They see a raised walkway stretching from the roof of Pullman Square over Veterans Memorial Boulevard into Harris Riverfront Park.
They see a clearing away of the trees and brush to provide a better view of the Robert C. Byrd Bridge at 6th Street. They see "welcome" signs, a little pizzazz added to the floodwall, a nearby river and rail museum, even a skate park.
The possibilities for Harris Riverfront Park are as widespread and creative as the community members who dream them up. Their ideas vary, but their mission is the same: to celebrate the Ohio River and see their city prosper.
"The river, from a conservation and a draw standpoint, is the best thing Huntington has," said Jim McClelland, director of the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District. "I'm a believer that if you build a better mousetrap, the mice come."
It's been about 30 years since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started a three-phase development project that became Harris Riverfront Park. Over the course of 20 years, they added a marina area, an amphitheater and docking area, as well as restrooms, parking and loops for cars and buses.
Today, much of the park's infrastructure is at least a quarter century old, and you can tell. The amphitheater has been underwater many times and there are rough, uneven patches along its seating area. The restrooms have aged. They're locked on a daily basis and too small to handle crowds that come for major events such as Rib Fest, X-Fest and Huntington Symphony Orchestra concerts.
Over the years, the tree-covered areas of the riverbank have become home to vagrants in the community. Although city officials cleared what became known as "Tent City" away from the riverbanks just this summer, security issues remain at Harris Riverfront Park. They can be as minor as visitors being approached for spare change, or as serious as a stabbing death just last week.
There's also the problem that the park seems to be forgotten, with no signs indicating its existence or access for pedestrians. A walk into the 10th Street entrance first requires a dangerous crossing at Veterans Memorial Boulevard.
"After the 1937 flood and decision... to build a floodwall, what had been front door to city of Huntington became the back door," said Jerry Sutphin, a river historian and one-time employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "When the floodwall and war occurred, so many people turned their back on the river, and it became a place people didn't want to be around."
That changed for a while after the Corps began its riverfront project in the late 1970s. With the new paths and playground, it drew visitors on a daily basis and became a good setting for the once popular summertime Regatta. But eventually the crowds slowed and the annual event was canceled. There remains a handful of events that draw thousands to the park each year. But on a daily basis, the scenic waters that drew Huntington's founder to this very spot float by almost unnoticed.
A look back
The banks of the Ohio River at Huntington can be marked by some life-changing events in recorded history and other minor ones.
They inspired Collis P. Huntington to set up shop in the late 1800s as a place where river and rail could come together before branching out and transporting goods to the west. His settlement soon became a city named for him.
In 1937, flood waters splashed through the city's downtown and neighborhoods, leaving 6,000 people homeless. In the 1940s, the Corps of Engineers built an 11-mile floodwall to prevent future devastation.
Things remained relatively unchanged at the riverfront between the 1940s and 1977, nothing but the floodwall and rails along the patch of ground that is now Harris Riverfront Park.
River historian Sutphin worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for 18 years and also has a permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian about working on the river. He came to Huntington from Mullens, W.Va., to attend Marshall in the 1950s.
"I can remember the riverfront when there was nothing there. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing," he said. "I used to park down behind the floodwall. This was when there was a paper plant. You could park down there for free. At that time, the river was an unsightly place to be, very much so. It was not a place that people wanted to go and spend any time."
But he has slides of the river from the 1870s "when it was the front door to the city. Back then, the river was everything to this town. It's exactly why Collis P. wanted to come here to join up with the (railroad)."
The river was how mail got to the city, and commerce. It's how people traveled. But with the advent of the automobile, it was used less and less, and by the time Sutphin came to Huntington, it was used by the towboat industry for transporting goods but not by the everyday citizen.
But in the late 1970s, the city of Huntington struck up an agreement with the Corps. If the Corps would build a park on the riverbanks, the city would manage and maintain it. It started a project that went from east to west and over the course of 20 years brought a marina area, amphitheater, pathway, docking facilities and parking.
"All this was to build connectivity between the river and the rest of the city for the excursion boats," said Mike Worley, chief of the Planning Branch for the Corps' Huntington District.
The park district was in charge of the park operations at that time.
"It was brand new and in excellent condition," McClelland said. "Back in those days, the largest use of the park in the summer had to do with the fair and regatta. ...That was really a huge celebration, and there were concerts."
People were in the park all the time, he said. But over the years, it aged and fewer and fewer people came.
And not to forget, it ages more quickly than most facilities because of its location.
It was built to withstand flooding -- "to be under water," added Beth Cade, a community planner for the Corps. And it has been, at least 12 times since the 1940s.
"Flood event after flood event for 30 years takes its toll," Worley said.
The park today
The Corps owns the 24 acres that is the park, leasing the property to the city. The city owns the floodwall and leases the park, and is in charge of maintaining both.
But when it comes to event planning at Harris Riverfront Park, that falls into the hands of SMG, which manages the Big Sandy Superstore Arena and the riverfront park for the city.
"We book the park," said A.J. Boleski, general manager of the Big Sandy Superstore Arena. "We negotiate the rentals and operate the event, provide the custodial crew, event staff and schedule police and EMS. ... We do the cleanup."
There are eight annual events at the riverfront, for which the general rate is $1,000, he said. Then there are groups that rent it for one-time functions.
"If it's a church group, we'll work with them (on the price). If it's X-Fest, it's a whole different ball game," Boleski said.
One strength of the riverfront park is that the floodwall serves as a great way to secure the park for ticket sales, he said. Also the amphitheater is an asset, and the Huntington Symphony Orchestra has added air-conditioned dressing rooms and sound panels to improve it.
The park as a whole is "a great area to do events in. It's a big field, and people like to be by the river," Boleski said. "It holds a decent amount of people. We can do 6,000 to 7,000 people, which is about what the arena holds. It's comparable, but it's outside and provides a nice setting.
"The bad part is that people don't always see what's behind the wall," he said. "It sometimes hides the event."
It also could use more restrooms. They brought in about 30 portable toilets for X-Fest this year, he said.
Hindsight does indeed indicate that more restrooms are needed, said McClelland of the park district, which about a year or two ago did an in-house investigation of the park, considering the possibility that maybe it could make some arrangements with the city to maintain the facility.
"We estimated about $800,000 was needed to upgrade the park from the standpoint of infrastructure," he said. "You have electrical lighting, signage, turf, a lot of different aspects of the park that at least two years ago needed to be done."
Safety concerns
On typical days, when the park isn't crowded with concert-goers, safety is also a concern.
Huntington Police patrol the area on a regular basis, Chief Skip Holbrook said. There's no way of knowing how many times a patrolman passes through the area on a daily basis, but officers visit the riverfront park certainly more than once per eight-hour shift, he said, maybe a dozen times on certain days. The bike patrol sweeps through the riverfront park sometimes as well, he said.
Also, the 10th Street entrance is now closed between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily.
"We were having a lot of people going back there and parking and doing illegal activities -- drinking, partying and creating an environment that was intimidating for the people who might have a legitimate reason to be in there," Holbrook said.
That also could lead to altercations and more violent crime, he said. The 10th Street area of the park didn't need to be open because the 11th Street entrance remains open for traffic to and from Holderby's Landing restaurant.
And closing the entrance and Tent City down has cut down on complaints, Holbrook said.
Some of the homeless "were laying around drunk on the benches and aggressively panhandling and occasionally getting in fights with each other," he said. "It was an intimidating environment.
"I've said repeatedly ... the more vibrant we become downtown in terms of people being here beyond business hours, that will lead to a safer environment in my opinion. The more public activity there is, (vagrants) are not going to be comfortable in that environment so they're going to move on," Holbrook said.
"More festivals, business development -- anything that makes it more vibrant and attractive for productive citizens to utilize and be part of -- will decrease the seediness after hours."
He added that while the area has been a magnet for illegal activity because it's secluded, he believes the altercation that led to a stabbing homicide last week was a rare occurrence and not a symptom of anything ongoing at the park. Randy Lee Gue Jr., 36, died after being stabbed in the parking lot about 2 a.m. Oct. 16. Dennis Ray Mills has been charged in connection with his death.
"It was... an altercation that was spur-of-the-moment that arose," Holbrook said. "It was not a product of anything ongoing down there. It's a good example of why it's important to patrol and be proactive and not allow people to go back there and sit in cars and drink, use drugs and participate in sex acts, but to maintain a presence, which is what we try to do."
Jean Tarbett Hardiman is a reporter for The Herald-Dispatch. Comments may be e-mailed to her at jeant@herald-dispatch.com.
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