Riverside park to see return of pedal boating

After a five-year absence, pedal boating will return to Fairmount Park Lake in Riverside.

The city council recently approved a contract to dredge the lake and make it deep enough for boats, according to a statement on the city’s website.

“Pedal boating is a quintessential Fairmount Park experience,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said in statement. “I look forward to seeing Riverside families enjoying the lake through this fun activity that showcases one of our city’s biggest assets.”

The lake was developed in 1904, 16 years after Fairmount Park was built. It includes playgrounds, picnic areas, boathouses, a fishing pier, band shell, rose garden and the Izaak Walton clubhouse.

MidCal Dredging of Riverdale, near Fresno, was awarded the $925,000 contract.  If all goes as planned, about 26,000 cubic yards of sediment will be removed from Fairmount Lake.

The project will be paid for with money from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The city anticipates pedal boating will return to Fairmount Park Lake by late this summer, according to the statement.