Launching Tenacity at Hunts Point Riverside Park in 2001
It all came together in April, 1999, when Rocking the Boat was invited to launch their first boat, the Amy Watkins, at an event celebrating the new, albeit makeshift, park. Years of advocacy convinced the City to follow the community’s lead and invest $3.2 million into turning the first iteration of the park into a permanent Parks facility. In 2004 Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Majora, and other community members broke ground on the new park, which was completed two years later.
End-of-semester boat launch events at Hunts Point Riverside Park
Over the past 20 years Hunts Point Riverside Park has become an essential extension of Rocking the Boat’s campus and the organization’s connection to the Bronx River. It is the place where countless young people and community members have hesitantly stepped foot in a boat for the first time, learned to identify a majestic great blue heron or snowy egret, and pulled on waders to get muddy and catch macroinvertebrates. When the Boatbuilding Program finishes a boat, they parade it through the Park, serenaded by a live band and the crowd’s cheers during one of over 20 annual Spring Launch Fest celebrations. And every summer weekend since 2007, Rocking the Boat has offered free Community Rowing, Sailing, and Birding to the public, introducing the Bronx River aboard its student-built boats to tens of thousands of visitors.
Planting Spartina grass on the shore of the park
Hunts Point Riverside Park’s and Rocking the Boat’s relationship has always been reciprocal. The organization doesn’t just use the park for community activities and river access but is an active steward in cooperation with the Department of Parks & Recreation. Since 2019, the Environmental Program has returned native salt marsh grass to an unused section of shoreline, preventing erosion and adding habitat. Most recently, the Environmental apprentices converted the park’s central garden beds into a haven of native pollinator friendly plants. Butterflies and bees—some travelling long distances, others from hives atop Rocking the Boat’s roof—benefit from this refuge in an otherwise unfriendly industrial landscape.
Rocking the Boat students wade along the shoreline to collect specimens
"Hunts Point Riverside Park is a testament to what's possible when a community refuses to give up on its waterfront," said NYC Parks Bronx Borough Commissioner Jessenia Aponte. "What was once an illegal dumping ground is now a gateway to the Bronx River and a place where young people build boats, learn to row, and discover the natural wonders right in their own backyard. Rocking the Boat's commitment to stewarding this park, from restoring native salt marsh grass to planting pollinator gardens, reflects the kind of partnership that makes our parks truly come alive. We are proud to be their neighbors on the Bronx River, and we look forward to everything this park will continue to make possible."
- Jessenia Aponte, NYC Parks Bronx Borough Commissioner
Rocking the Boat is where it is and what it is because of the uniquely rich natural resources of Hunts Point Riverside Park and the Bronx River and the opportunity they offer to the people who live along the River’s banks. At less than a half an acre and with only 170 feet of waterfront, Hunts Point Riverside Park is a small but mighty gateway to so much more.
