Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Trying To Wakeboard Today At Cowtown Wakepark

The Cowtown Wakepark Jewel
In The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Crown
Today I pedaled the Trinity Trail to get a closeup look at Cowtown Wakepark.

Yesterday I visited the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Woodshed Smokehouse.

Visionary J.D. Granger envisioned the Woodshed Smokehouse as a gritty place with no air-conditioning, with outdoor showers and an outhouse.

Well before the Woodshed opened, the visionary J.D. Granger foresaw the need for the more than 700,000 citizens of Fort Worth to have the opportunity to participate in the water sport of wakeboarding in dirty, polluted water.

This coming summer the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle will see the opening of the first new drive-in movie theater in America in decades.

Truly visionary.

I was very impressed to see the Cowtown Wakepark up close today, to see the fine attention paid to detail.

Fort Worth Shabby Chic From The
Trinity River Vision Boondoggle
The designers of this world class venue obviously paid close attention to the Fort Worth design aesthetic, that truly unique shabby chic look that Fort Worth does so well, and no other big city seems able to emulate to the Fort Worth level.

Cowtown Wakepark's landscaping appeared to be designed to look totally natural, like most of Fort Worth's freeway exits. Tall grass and weeds. A smattering of litter, for color. A general unkemptness to the look.

It can't be easy to design and achieve this type look, creating the illusion of chaotic slobbiness.

The next time I bike the Trinity Trail, out of Gateway Park, I'll make it beyond Cowtown Wakepark to see if I can find the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Drive-In under construction. It'd be cool to see the tall grass and weeds, of the landscaping, when they are in the installation phase, before the litter arrives.

Has anyone heard what the financial arrangement is between the Cowtown Wakepark and the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle? How big a slice is J.D. Granger's operation getting off of this likely very lucrative pie? How much did it cost the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle to add this lake to the vision?

2 comments:

Mr Galtex said...

About the drive-in near LaGrave field, I'll look forward to your on-the-scene photos and commentary, but as of two days ago, there's nothing there. They (TRWD?) are still doing remediation work, removing contaminated soil, so there's just a couple of big holes and a few trucks and earth movers.

That new bike has expanded your horizons -- good to see you over in our part of town! Those Trinity Trails are a genuinely great thing about Fort Worth.

Durango said...

Mr. Galtex, thanks for the info about the current state of the Trinity Drive-in.

I agree, the Trinity Trails are a good thing. They've greatly improved over the time I've been here. I remember when the Trinity Trail on the side of the river opposite La Grave Field was just a dirt road. It perplexed me because there were historical markers set in big rocks, which had me wondering who they were intended for. Now that is all paved and there is even a shaded watering hole on the west side of I-35. I was pleased to find, yesterday, that sections of the trail between Gateway Park and the Stockyards have been re-paved, using cement, not asphalt. Big improvement.