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Public dock provides new entry point for Hastings

Kevin Giles, Star Tribune

Andre Adams fishes from the new city dock in Hastings. It's the first public dock in Hastings and opened this spring about a quarter mile from the city's historic downtown. Adams is from Inver Grove Heights. credit: Kevin Giles

The city has opened its first public dock on the Mississippi, near downtown west of the Hwy. 61 bridge. The idea was to open a gateway to the business district from the water.

By KEVIN GILES, Star Tribune

Last update: April 29, 2008 - 11:57 PM

It didn't take long for Andre Adams to catch a bass after he started fishing from the spanking-new city dock in Hastings.

"I cast it out, like, five times and, man, that's a nice one," said Adams, of Inver Grove Heights, admiring the wriggling fish he reeled onto the dock from the Mississippi River.

The public dock, the first in Hastings, just opened near the city's historic downtown west of the Hwy. 61 bridge. The idea, said community relations coordinator Shannon Rausch, was to open a gateway to the business district from the water.

"Hastings is a river city. It was founded because of the river, and now we have a public dock that people can come to," she said. "It kind of brings us back to the essence of where we came from."

The decision didn't come easily. Enormous barges that chug past Hastings in the Mississippi's navigational channel swing close to shore. The site for the dock, just west of the bridge, was chosen after the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers reviewed the plan and river pilots endorsed the location.

Said Rausch, "It's pretty much one of the safest spots where it could be put," in an elbow of the river protected by pilings should a barge run astray. The dock is just downstream from Lock and Dam No. 2.

The 150-foot dock adjoins Jaycee Park and connects with the 12-mile Hastings Loop Trail, a paved walking path that leads to the city's 19th century downtown. Boaters who tie up there will be limited to four hours at a time.

The project's cost, including the pilings, was $179,780.

"Hastings was the only river city that had no dock," said Kevin Hoeschen of the Hastings Downtown Business Association. "We've been trying to get it for years."

Hoeschen said the dock will help boaters get to community events, such as the upcoming Historic Hastings Saturday Night Cruise-In, which he said typically draws from 700 to 900 classic cars. The event begins May 31 and runs from 5-10 p.m. on alternating Saturdays into October.

Meanwhile, city officials scheduled a public ribbon-cutting at the dock for 5:30 p.m. May 19.

"Cities along the Mississippi River depend on a certain amount of boat traffic for tourism," said Barry Bernstein, Hastings parks and recreation director. He said the new dock is "another mechanism for exploring the city of Hastings."

Kevin Giles • 651-298-1554

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