When Kevin Stafford was just a college student at Mississippi State University in the late 1990s, he spent summer afternoons tubing down the Luxapalila Creek from Propst Park with his friends.
Now, a team of MSU students have put together a plan for the city that could bring the practice back in full swing.
Ann Fava Peters told The Dispatch she and three other graduate students put together a feasibility study and business model a private business could use to start a kayaking business from Propst Park to Luxapalila Creek Park. It would involve building a parking lot and dock at Propst Park and gaining access to the now-closed Luxapalila Creek Park to pick up passengers upon completion of about four miles down creek.
The team are graduate students in the master of business administration program who chose this as their capstone project.
“The city asked for our help to figure out what it would look like to start a business here,” Peters said. “We spent this semester doing research, talking to similar companies within a 500-mile radius, and we talked to 15 other companies and got to know how they operate and their business models.”
First, the team met with City Engineer Kevin Stafford to determine what would be needed at the park before a business could open there.
Propst Park would need a new dock installed on its bank, an additional parking lot and roads would have to be updated inside the park.
The prospective business would also need access to Luxapalila Creek Park, which the Army Corps of Engineers closed in 2019 after the city gave up its lease on the property.
An online survey followed to gauge interest. Out of 276 responses to the survey, the team found more than 70% favored a kayaking business and about 60% were interested in it with tubing as well.
After completing that research, the team proposed in the report that the business be seasonal, from spring to fall. They said it would require about five people to run. Patrons would pay between $15 and $30 to float down the creek in a tube or kayak, and after floating for about two hours, would be picked up at Luxapalila Creek Park and shuttled back to their cars. No information about how much the business would make was included in the study.
The team presented its findings to Mayor Keith Gaskin on April 26.
“Their consulting project looked at the feasibility of having a third-party, private provider bring water activities such as kayaking, canoeing, tubing, fossil digging, etc. to Propst Park along the Luxapalila Creek,” Gaskin wrote in a Facebook post April 26. “I now have a very impressive client report to share with interested parties.”
Gaskin declined to comment to The Dispatch for this report beyond his Facebook post.
Columbus Public Information Officer Joe Dillon said the city will use the new business plan as it seeks an interested party. The city also will work with the Corps of Engineers on access to Luxapalila Creek Park.
Stafford said the business would be a great use of the park, and bringing back more use of the space would give young people a fun experience.
“As a college student on a budget back in the day, I would just get an inner tube and blow it up, and we would go float,” Stafford said. “Whereas today with young kids, it would be fun to pay like $20 to go out there and have somebody provide me with a couple of kayaks to go float for a few hours with my kids and go up and down the creek.”
Jordan Smith, one of the students on the study team, said the project did more than just provide Columbus with a good plan for a Propst Park business but also gave her a unique experience with building a business from scratch. She intends to take that skill into her future career in consulting and public relations.
“It was really unique for me in the MBA program in different aspects with financials or with figuring out business models,” Smith said.
“So, it’s been a really good learning experience for me to grow my expertise and learn more about the other side of consulting.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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