If you’ve found yourself wanting to explore the Des Plaines River but don’t want to cover the expenses to purchase a kayak, Riverside’s new kayak outfitter has you covered.
Rivers R Fun is based out of Plainfield, where owners and operators Sharon Wochok and Romano Conte live. The company has rented kayaks for about two years now.
“We have a storage unit in Crest Hill where we keep all of our kayaks and our trailers. We put people in the DuPage River and the Fox River currently. People will reach out, and then they pay for the kayak. We drop it off, or they pick it up at our house, and they take it for the day, and then they return it, or we pick it back up,” Wochok told the Landmark of the couple’s business model.
This coming Sunday, Sept. 27, will be the pair’s first foray into renting kayaks in Riverside for use in the Des Plaines River, weather permitting. They were scheduled for a first run on Saturday, Sept. 19, but the heavy rain forced them to postpone, Wochok said.
“Our next one is next Sunday, and we have to check the river conditions. If it’s overflowing, we don’t want it to be unsafe. We’ll go navigate the river on Saturday and see how it is before we say, ‘Hey, we’re canceling,’ or not. Safety is the biggest importance,” she said.
Kayak rentals in Riverside will cost $55 for residents and $60 for non-residents and last two hours each. Village Trustee Alex Gallegos, who connected Rivers R Fun with the village, said that should be enough time to kayak up the Des Plaines River from the entry point at the Scout Cabin to somewhere between 31st and 26th streets before coming back down with the flow of water and exiting near Swan Pond.
Gallegos said he had been keeping an eye out for a new outfitter after Riverside’s previous outfitter parted ways with the village about two or three years ago due to changes in their personal life.
“Things ended on good terms, but it wasn’t going to go anywhere,” Gallegos said. “I have been talking with other outfitters over the years, existing ones and also ones who wanted to start up. That’s always been part of the radar for discussions. When we had the Regatta in late June, I did find them on Facebook, I messaged them about what their business was like, and it escalated from there.”
After outfitting the crew who participated in the 10th annual Riverside Regatta on June 28, Wochok said Gallegos asked her and Conte to keep outfitting kayaks for Riverside and got them in touch with the village’s parks and recreation department. You can book a kayak rental through the department’s website, where a second date on Sunday, Oct. 25, is also available.
“They’ve come out here. They’ve scoped out, surveyed the land a little bit and the river. They were able to join for the Regatta as well, and it seems to be a really good fit,” Gallegos said.
Wochok said she and Conte are excited to find their footing with Riverside in the autumn and to hopefully gear up with more rentals next year after finding a location aside from the Scout Cabin from which to launch.
“They rent that out usually, so [we have it on] the days that it wasn’t rented out for this year,” Wochok said. “[Parks and Recreation] wanted to see how it worked and how many people signed up and if we need to adjust things. This is kind of a trial run, these last couple weeks here.”
Conte said the Des Plaines makes a good spot to kayak due to its ability to be traveled across seasons.
“It was interesting, the last time we were in the river. Two weeks ago, we went in, and it was a little bit lower at that time, but we did notice there’s almost a channel in the river, in the center of it, which actually makes it deeper. It’s a little bit nicer to kayak. When the water is a little lower, you still have a means of doing it,” Conte said.
Wochok said the love of kayaking started with her and her children, and she spread it to Conte after they met.
“I’ve always been kayaking for a long time. When my kids were little, I would take them when we’d go on vacation. We’ve kayaked in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Las Vegas. We’ve always rented kayaks; that was one of our things,” she said.
Rivers R Fun started in response to Wochok and Conte’s perception that the number of kayaks on the water was decreasing.
“We saw that there were a lot of people starting to tube on the rivers, and I’m like, we don’t really want to sit in a tube on these rivers. We should really be renting kayaks out. That is how we started,” she said. “We want to make kayaking accessible and fun for families, for beginners, so that they can enjoy the river and the outdoors as much as we do. You’re in your own little serenity when you’re in the river. You’ll see deer, you’ll see hare, we saw a bald eagle. We couldn’t find the nest, but you’re in a different world that’s away from the bump and grind of everything else.”
