BG Riverfront Tourism’s Massive Success Attracts Record Visits…and Anxieties

By Lucy Allen

The development of Bowling Green’s riverfront has been one of the region’s biggest success stories over the past three decades. The opening of the Barren River to local residents and visitors alike have helped transform the downtown area surrounding the river into a lively community full of entertainment, retailers, walking trails, hotels and condos. This area of Bowling Green attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists a year, and businesses in the district employ hundreds of residents from the region. However, with the popularity of the riverfront continuing to attract record-breaking numbers of tourists each year, that momentum also raises anxiety for some residents.. 

Few dispute that the extension of the “Greenways” to the riverfront areas of Bowling Green have played a key role in revitalizing the riverfront downtown and in creating more opportunities for city residents to engage in outdoor activities within the city. It has encouraged businesses to build along the riverside, which has increased nightlife tourism. Visitors today recognize the downtown area as a hub of arts and entertainment, profiled recently by Garden & Gun as “an ideal place to spend a summer evening with people you love.”

The Riverfront has become a hub of arts and entertainment, ultimately bettering the community, says longtime Bowling Green resident Layne Cook. 

“When I was growing up, there wasn’t much down in this part of town,” Cook said. “Now, my family and I have chosen to live at the Riverfront. My daughter loves the stores, and my son loves to hike along the water; it has just become such a beautiful part of town.”

Historians say the Barren River was the reason for the city’s settling in the 1790s. But, as automobile-based travel became the norm, the city found itself disconnected from the river that runs through it. At the turn of the 21st Century, it was almost easy for many residents to forget that the Barren River played such an important role in the region’s growth.  

Now, the Riverfront City Park has become a keystone in Bowling Green’s community. As the project moves forward into phase eight of its development plans, citizens have become accustomed to the biking, white water rafting, kayaking, fishing and other water activities around the park.

The Riverfront district has become a significant economic contributor as well. While investments from local government and grant funding kicked off riverfront development, a large portion of the funding has been from private investments. Local store fronts along the river have become staples, and the district has now attracted something once thought unlikely for Bowling Green–a series of high-rise buildings with residents like Cook and her family living in large-suite condominiums rather than single family houses. These residential, retail, tourism, and hospitality industries now provide hundreds of new jobs to Warren County residents and provide employment opportunities for hundreds more who commute from surrounding counties to the area for work. The vast majority of companies along the riverfront are locally owned, reflecting a strong push by the Unified Government to encourage investment in locally owned business ventures, including many black-owned businesses that populate the vibrant Shake Rag district that lies between the city’s square and the riverfront.

Katelyn Murph, a Bowling Green resident who grew up moving back and forth between Bowling Green and Miami, Florida, has found her visits a lot more frequent in the past 15 years, since expansions took off. “It reminds me a lot of the quieter parts of [Miami],” she says, “Those are honestly my favorite parts. It makes me increasingly consider coming back to live here full time.” 

While the Riverfront has been recognized regionally and nationally for its success, naturally, some citizens have voiced their concerns over the fact that these record-breaking numbers show no signs of stopping, and question how the city deals with the impact of more and more people traveling to this historic area. The majority of these concerns are focused on  deterioration of water quality and an increase in pollution. With rapid growth in tourism and human activity around the area, there has also been an increase in waste around the river. Entertainment events hosted in the district have led to more refuse being left in and around the area's highly successful amphitheater. Residents have been worried about the water quality of the river and quality of life for the wildlife around the area as the volume of trash has increased. 

The city already seems to be ahead of this problem; a volunteer “River Clean-up Crew” was established in 2047 to ensure that the space continues to be a lively and attractive area. The group is designed for mostly younger students for easy and impactful volunteer work. Bowling Green High School’s “Wildlife Wellness Club” has also played a vital role in keeping the area clean and the natural wildlife comfortable in their surroundings.

Other groups are worried about over-tourism in the parks. Considering the area remained mostly unoccupied for so many years, it has experienced a drastic shift in activity. In particular, the noise from different events hosted near the domestic areas have become an issue with residents. 

“My family and I moved here recently, and we love all the stuff the Riverfront offers,” says Riverfront resident Jonathan Benson. “However, sometimes it gets a little noisy at night, which isn't good for my toddler.” 

There have been some cases where both tourists and locals come head to head with small issues. For example, a group of local fishermen lodged complaints in a recent Polis community forum about kayakers getting in the way of their fishing lines.

With the opening of two new restaurants and a new residential highrise planned for this fall in the district, these tensions are all but certain to continue.