Banking on the River
story by Emily Kask
It creates life, movement and activity.
It frames a community.
It provides opportunity.
It feeds the economy.
It offers leisure, serenity and comfort.
The Ohio River pumps life throughout Owensboro.
Barges and tugboats constantly flow down the river carrying coal, grain, scrap metal and other products from port to port.
Families peruse up and down the parks and banks along the river. They laugh, chat, fish and walk the family dog there. Children swing from the monkey bars in the Lazy Dayz Playground; couples hold hands strolling along the banks.
The quaintness of Owensboro is accented by the ever-present prominence of its river.
Smokestacks at Owensboro Municipal Utilities create clouds of smoke over the Ohio River.
Workers at Riverport Authority transport steel from train cars to load at the site, which will later be put onto barges and shipped down the Ohio River.
A couple takes a self portrait near the RiverPark Center with the Glover Cary Bridge in the background.
Rie Takai, a resident of Owensboro, takes her dogs Miku and Hana for a walk by the river at English Park.
Joe Horn, 4, feels a tug at his line while fishing on the Ohio River in Owensboro.
A boat motors past barges resting on the banks of the Ohio River in Owensboro. The barges are a crucial part of the economy in Owensboro; they transport many materials both sold and used in the town.
A bird's eye view emerges of farmers at work in a field in Daviess County. Fertilizer is carried on barges down the Ohio River to be used in fields throughout the county.
A high moon peeks through the Glover Cary Bridge in Owensboro.