TIRE HILL, Pa. -- This small town along the scenic Stonycreek River in northern Somerset County may seem an unlikely site for the first whitewater park in Pennsylvania, but the combined efforts of man, woman and nature made it happen.

It's known as the Stonycreek Whitewater Park, a 300-yard long playground designed for water enthusiasts of every persuasion and modeled after popular whitewater parks out West. It's a few miles south of Johnstown, free to the public and will have its grand opening and dedication ceremony at 10:30 a.m. June 5.

"The Benscreek Canoe Club started talking about this eight years ago," said Steve Buncich, chairman of the Conemaugh Township supervisors, the official sponsor of the project. "The Conemaugh Valley Conservancy kept it alive when some members of the public didn't understand what it [was] all about."

Fun is what it's about.

Kayakers, canoeists and rafters will enjoy playing in the whitewater, so will inner-tubers and swimmers. And, after doing so, they can get out, walk up the crushed limestone path to the starting point and do it again. There also are easy entry points along the terraced river bank for swimmers, waders and ankle-soakers. And for anglers, there are dozens of types of fish in the river.

The staging area for the whitewater action is Greenhouse Recreation Park, a nine-acre site that includes a well-tended lawn, free-standing picnic tables and benches along the river, portable toilets, a volleyball court, walking trail, parking, lights and six well-placed pavilions with concrete floors and picnic tables.

There are plans to add restrooms, a changing facility, swing set and other playground amenities for smaller children.

"We want to make this a park where people come to enjoy more than the river," Mr. Buncich said last week, as he watched two kayakers, Bryan Mahoney and Jason Rigby, playing in a strip of whitewater known as a hydraulic, formed when water drops over an obstacle and curls back on itself before flowing downstream.

Mr. Mahoney, 39, a native of Lancaster County, moved to nearby Riverside in 2004 in anticipation of the opening of the whitewater park.

"That's a nice little stretch of rapids out there," Mr. Mahoney said during an interview in one of the pavilions on an overcast breezy, chilly, drizzly and high-water day. The Stony was running at 2,200 cubic feet per second, a measurement of how much water was flowing past a certain point in one second. It's a flow rate veteran kayakers enjoy.

Mr. Mahoney described the whitewater park as "a perfect place to learn to kayak and canoe, especially during the low-flow levels we get in the summer."

Jason Rigby, Mahoney's paddling partner that day, agreed.

"It's a perfect training site because it's in a safe and semi-controlled environment on a natural river," said Mr. Rigby, 32, an insurance salesman who lives in Greensburg. "Debris on the river bottom that might have caused foot entrapment was removed."

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources provided $495,000, an amount that includes $150,000 and $100,000 in Growing Greener II state funds allotted to Cambria and Somerset counties. The Greater Johnstown Regional Partnership contributed $50,000 and the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies gave $30,000.

The primary facilitators of the project are the Benscreek Canoe Club and the Quemahoning Initiative, a program of the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy.

Mike Kane, executive director of the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies, said the whitewater park is the culmination of local, county and state efforts to clean up the Stonycreek River, a waterway once polluted by acid mine drainage.

"Twenty years ago, that river was orange," he said. "No one would have dreamed of going in there. Now we're inviting people into the water because its been remediated. It's a testament to all the people who worked so hard for so long to bring it back."

One of the best routes to the park from Pittsburgh is via the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the Somerset exit, Route 601 north to Route 219, Route 219 to the Davidsville exit and Route 403 north about four miles to the park. Give yourself about two hours to make the trip. The whitewater park needs some signs along Route 403 to direct visitors to its location.

For more information on the whitewater park, e-mail stony@atlanticbbN.net. A Web site is expected to be available later this year. To reserve a pavilion, call 814-288-1400 between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays.

For more information on the Benscreek Canoe Club, go to www.benscreekcanoeclub.com/