St. Patrick’s Park now allowing people to rent kayaks and canoes

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – After a long delay due to the high river water levels, people are now able to rent kayaks and canoes in St. Patrick's County Park.

The rentals officially have opened up today and will be available this holiday weekend and every weekend through the first week of October.

Officials say the water levels are safe now, but renting while the levels were too high was a potentially dangerous situation.

"The rain definitely was an issue for us the consistent rain every day, every day, didn't give us a chance to have the river drop to where we needed it to be. The problem is when the river level is so high is a lot of downed debris, a lot of turbulence in the water that makes it hard to paddle straight so it's really difficult for some new paddlers, people that haven't paddled on a regular basis." said Jamie Hartzke, the Leisure Services Manager.

Prices and hours can be found on their website here: http://www.sjcparks.org/553/Leisure-Activities