McALLEN — This week the city will bring back a rental equipment hub for one of its most popular parks.
The city is reopening its H2O Hut, a facility at Fireman’s Park where visitors can rent paddle boards, pedal boats, kayaks, and fishing gear to use at the park’s Town Lake.
Previously located where the new University Drafthouse is now housed, the H2O Hut will make its triumphant return on Friday after being relocated to the east side of the park.
“We in the city want to continue to have that quality of life for the residents of McAllen, so we relocated this hut,” City Commissioner Pepe Cabeza de Vaca said.
The H2O Hut first opened 10 years ago, when former Mayor Jim Darling was the commissioner for District 6, Cabeza de Vaca said, adding that the design of the new facility was done during the tenure of former Commissioner Veronica Vela-Whitacre.
“This is about creating memories, this is about quality of life for the citizens of McAllen,” Cabeza de Vaca said. “This enhances the quality of life for the people, it creates memories for families and for future generations.”
After the hut was closed down to make way for the restaurant, construction began on the new facilities in November 2021, according to Carina Jimenez, the deputy director of programs for the parks and recreation department.
“This container was brought in as a shell and then our Parks and Recreation team built it out to what you see today including the concrete slab, the pavers, the picnic tables, the roof, the storage area for all of the boat rental equipment and the interior,” she said, “so it was just an empty shell and they built it out to what it is today.”
The H2O Hut wil also offer concessions.
From April to October, it will be open Friday through Sunday from 4 p.m. to sunset for all of the amenities. From November to March, it will be open Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to sunset.
The price for a fishing pole with bait is $10, while the boats and kayaks will range from $15 to $25 for 30 minutes, according to a post on the city’s social media page.
“With the reopening of the H2O Hut, the community can have more reasons to come together as we love to do, and our staff put in long hours to make this happen,” said City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez.
Rodriguez said that while some cities move on from projects once they’ve been completed, they keep looking at how the projects can be improved.
“We keep thinking, ‘What can we do different? What can we do better to make each facility that we have that much better,’” he said.
While Fireman’s Park is one of the city’s newest, Rodriguez noted that it has become one of its more popular.
“It was a labor of love to build this park; it was very, very visionary and it took a lot of courage to do what we did here,” he said. “We want to make sure that we’re always providing the very best facilities for our citizens in McAllen.”
The hut will open to the public on Friday.
