Paddling into fun times at Heavner Canoe Rental

Looking for a good time with family or friends? Central Park or Kensington Park are just one of several locations where you can take a canoe trip through Heavner Canoe Rental.

“I love people and the outdoors and those two are really what drives me from the beginning up to now.” said Alan Heavner, President of Heavner Canoe Rental, which has been in business for 64 years.

The canoe rental has a moonlight paddle that is almost all year around. People will start to paddle at sunset to Milford’s Central Park, which people can then get out of their canoe or kayak and walk to Milford’s downtown area to have dinner.  Then once the moon starts to come out, the people can canoe or kayak back to the rental with the full moon out.

Even though the summer season is winding down, Heavner has plenty of options for students in the winter months.

“We participate in the community picnic in Milford’s Central Park, and also in the winter we participate in the winter festival, and we provide snowshoes and there is someone there to teach how to snowshoe. We also make a canoe/ kayak slide and slide down the hill with the canoe also known as a kayak,” Heavner explains.

The canoe rental has a few different locations such as Proud Lake, Kensington Park, Newburgh Lake, Island Lake, and Ford Field Park (Dearborn)

“New Year’s day every year we do am open house. The park is open, and we invite people to come out and go snow shoeing, cross country skiing, canoeing, kayaking, and hiking ( depending on the weather),” Explains Heavner.

There is also a river cleanup every year. They get other canoe rentals and some volunteers to help. There will some times be 100-200 volunteers to help out. The cleanup is usually the third Saturday of August.

Every year, middle schoolers are invited to come to the canoe rental, as well at many different groups of people such as, special education students, Boy scouts, Girl scouts and church groups are a huge part of the business.  Heavner loves to get children in the outdoors as much as he can as possible, and may take them for hikes or take the students in canoes depending on what they want.

The overall mission is “No Child Left Inside” which has changed to “no family left inside.”  

The canoe rental will be closing by the end of October and will be opening in the first of April.

“We are flexible with our canoes, if someone wants to canoe or kayak in a different lake or a different stretch of river, we will take the canoes or kayaks there, we have one unit that is portable and on the go all week and we can take the canoes and equipment there,” said Heavner.

Heavner Canoe Rental is the perfect place to relax, have fun, and a great experience. If you’re looking for something fun to do with your friends or family, be sure to stop by or call 248-685-2379.