WILLOW CREEK — For the first time in the town’s history, visitors can rent a kayak on the Willow River and paddle the gentle currents that once carried shipbuilders’ work to the Penobscot Valley.
Kayak Willow Creek, a seasonal rental operation launched by town resident Bernie Cork, opened for business July 1 at the Thorne’s Bend boat launch with a fleet of 12 single kayaks and four tandems. The business operates from a repurposed shipping container painted forest green and positioned at the edge of the launch parking area.
Cork, who retired last year after 34 years as the school secretary, said she spent her retirement savings on the initial fleet — $8,200 for boats, paddles and life vests — after watching foliage-season visitors wander down to the boat launch with nowhere to rent equipment.
“People would drive up, see the river, and ask me where they could get a boat,” Cork said. “I’d have to tell them Bangor or Lincoln. That’s a 90-minute round trip. They didn’t come back.”
The rental rates are $15 per hour for a single kayak and $25 per hour for a tandem, with half-day and full-day discounts. Cork offers a basic paddling orientation and provides a simple map of the Willow River from Thorne’s Bend downstream to the Mattawamkeag confluence, a 4-mile float that takes roughly two hours at a leisurely pace.
Dean Moreau of the Dry Dock said the rental service fills a gap that the restaurant’s customers had been asking about.
“Every week since we opened, someone asks where to rent a kayak,” Moreau said. “Now I can send them to the boat launch instead of down to Old Town.”
Cork said she plans to add stand-up paddleboards next summer if the kayak rentals prove viable.
“I’m not looking to get rich,” she said. “I just want to see people enjoy the river the way I did when I was a kid.”