Kayak tours and rentals have become big business in Traverse City, with 6,800 people set to float down the Boardman River this summer and thousands more hitting the water with rented equipment at Clinch and Medalie parks. The boom has brought increased competition among companies for customers and government contracts, as well as renewed efforts – including by vendors – to protect local waterways.

While providing tourists equipment and access to the water has long existed as a business model in Traverse City, newer offerings like brewery tours and livery services at city and county parks have raised the profile of non-motorized watersport companies. “I’ve been in this business 30 years…and it’s gone viral now,” says owner Mike Sutherland of The River Outfitters. “It’s become big, big business.”

The shift has brought both new competition – and opportunity – to Sutherland’s doorstep. In 2015, following six years of Sutherland operating concessions stand and rental hub The River at Clinch Park, city officials opened the park contract up to other bidders. Sutherland contended the move unfairly jeopardized years’ of investment building The River from a startup into a thriving business. “Investing in a business and then realizing it can be taken away from you is a real challenge,” he told The Ticker during the bidding war.

Though Sutherland outbid two other vendors for the Clinch Park contract, city officials disqualified his bid, citing concerns over Sutherland’s legal and business history. Owner Jeff Bensley of Paddle TC was awarded a three-year contract with the city beginning in 2016, paying between $30,000 and $31,000 annually for the right to rent kayaks, stand-up paddleboards (SUPs), beach chairs and other equipment at the park.

“Last summer went really well,” says Bensley, who is gearing up this weekend for the launch of Paddle TC’s second year at Clinch Park. “We had positive feedback from our customers, and the city was great to work with. I was happy overall with our season.” In addition to rentals, Paddle TC will offer both guided and self-guided river and bike tours, brewery tours, SUP yoga classes and more in 2017. Bensley was also awarded the contract to offer concessions at the park beginning this summer.

After his own departure from Clinch Park, Sutherland approached Grand Traverse County about offering livery services from Medalie Park off South Airport Road. The county agreed to a contract for The River to provide light concessions and canoe, kayak and paddleboard rentals from the park in 2016. But as with Clinch Park, interest from other vendors prompted the county to open the contract up for bid this year.

Along with Sutherland, both Bensley and Troy Daily – owner of TC Ale Trail, Paddle For Pints, and Kayak, Bike and Brew – bid on the contract. County parks and recreation commissioners voted Thursday to award a three-year contract to Sutherland, who bid $3,000 for the right to use Medalie Park this summer, compared to $1,000 bids from the other two vendors. But competitive tensions ran high in the two meetings devoted to the discussion, with Sutherland’s business practices again called into question and competing vendors highlighting the untapped potential offered by Medalie Park, which could see a significant influx of traffic once the Boardman Lake Trail is completed.

With incoming new developement at the Warehouse District – currently home to the The River Outfitters headquarters – Medalie Park could be Sutherland’s sole location this summer. Sutherland draws a distinction between what he sees as his smaller-scale, sustainably-focused operation and the “mass marketing” of local waterways by newer vendors. “I’m not necessarily happy with the product of sending hundreds of people down the river stopping at seven brewpubs,” he says. “We knew there was a market to feed the masses, but we resisted it, both culturally and environmentally. It’s changing the culture of Traverse City, and not necessarily for the better.”

Visitors, however – along with breweries, downtown businesses and city officials – seemed to have embraced the influx of tours highlighting the Boardman River. Since launching Paddle For Pints in 2014, Daily has received overwhelming response to his “brewery pub paddle,” which offers twenty tour dates throughout the summer, each hosting four waves of 50 people. For the 2017 season, all 4,000 tickets sold out in under an hour, according to Daily. Last year, Daily launched a second business – Kayak, Bike and Brew – offering a scaled-down version of the tour. That event has sold 2,800 tickets so far in 2017.

Daily emphasizes that his operation is meant to showcase both Traverse City’s natural environment and local breweries in a way that protects the river and maintains a positive working relationship with businesses and the city. Though demand would support further expansion of his events, Daily says he has voluntarily capped his business. “We don’t want to overrun the river or the breweries,” he says. “There’s an opportunity there, but we’re cutting it off to keep it comfortable for everybody.”

Daily and city officials also collaborated this year on a five-year agreement to mitigate any potential park impacts by tour participants. As part of the deal, Daily offered to contribute $8,000 to the city for river enhancements in 2017 and 2018 (climbing $1,000 annually thereafter, up to $11,000 in 2021). He will provide trash receptacles and a public restroom at the Union Street dam, and donate $1,000 to TART Trails for trail upkeep. City Clerk Benjamin Marentette praised Daily’s ventures in a January memo to city commissioners, saying the city was “pleased with the manner in which Paddle For Pints and Kayak, Bike and Brew” operated and that Daily “conducts his events responsibly and well.” Businesses including The Filling Station, Cherry Tree Inn & Suites, Right Brain Brewery and Rare Bird Brewpub issued public letters of support this year for Paddle For Pints; the event was also awarded the 2017 Governor’s Award for Innovative Tourism Collaboration.

Bensley believes that increased traffic on waterways doesn’t automatically equate to increased negative impact – if anything, the opposite may be true, he says. Bensley, Daily, Sutherland and their respective staffs all participate in multiple river clean-up outings each summer, pick up trash throughout their events and support the efforts of the Boardman River Clean Sweep. Bensley contrasts that to years past, when individuals or groups with no supervision might kayak or tube down the river and throw their trash where they pleased.

“The river is probably cleaner now than a number of years ago, because there are more people caring for it,” Bensley says. “I feel Clinch is more organized and cleaner now than it’s ever been. When businesses put people (on the water), we’re constantly worried about keeping it pristine, so it’s our priority.”

Photo credit: Paddle For Pints