The Detroit Riverwalk is one of the highlights of Detroit, being named the “Best Riverwalk in the Country” by USA Today for three years in a row.

The clear waters with views of Canada are only one of the many wonderful features of the riverwalk. The carousel can bring joy to kids and adults alike, as do the plentiful parks. With the riverwalk’s liveliness, it’s hard to believe it used to be dominated by many abandoned buildings and industrial waste.

On the riverwalk, I see people biking, jogging, dog walking, fishing, boating, and watching their children play. It is truly one of the city’s liveliest public spaces.

However, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, which spearheaded the transformation of the public space starting in 2003, has not finished its work yet. Another mile and a half of riverfront remains to be redeveloped into public space.

However, the organization faced a considerable setback last year. In April 2025, former Chief Financial Officer William A. Smith was sentenced to 19 years in prison for embezzling over $40 million from the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy over eleven years. The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy responded with stricter audit and financial authorization protocols, a smaller term-limited board, and upgraded oversight to ensure no one inside the organization can again take advantage of their position for personal gain. In a press release, Conservancy CEO Ryan Sullivan said, “These enhancements set forth a new era of increased oversight that will protect our mission along the riverfront for generations.”

Despite the setback, the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park opened in October 2025 and has become one of the riverfront’s most recent successes.

With a playground styled after semi-aquatic animals, the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park invites children to play and parents to explore the slides, ramps and pathways. The park feature that stood out to me in particular was the bear slide. The bear sits over 20 feet tall, with two slides inside. Next to the bear are an otter and beaver slide; all animals you would see in Michigan.

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. owned the Buffalo Bills and contributed to fund the Riverwalk. Marc Pasco, Director of Public Relations for the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, commented on Wilson, “Unfortunately, he passed on, but he was a local businessman who was smart and very successful.” Wilson Jr. would surely get a kick out of walking down the Riverwalk, unrecognized, despite being a celebrity in Buffalo, New York. The Buffalo Bills franchise was sold to create a foundation to fund the two communities Wilson loved: Buffalo, New York, and Detroit, Michigan. In that way, the two cities are linked through the Detroit Riverfront, and the legacy of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr.

Pasco gave me a closer examination of the Riverwalk, and the view inspired me. You can say that the story of the Riverwalk reflects the story of Detroit. From industry to abandonment, to artistry. For a project as large as shifting the riverfront from industry to a public space that connects people to nature, Marc Pasco explains that one of the biggest challenges was figuring out where to start.

“For a long time, the people would look across the river, and they would see our friends in Canada with a vibrant riverfront, events, concerts, carnivals and things like that,” Pasco said. So the symmetry between the Detroit riverfront and Canada’s riverfront was intentional.

Pasco admits, “Revitalizing a riverfront from something that was in kind of rough shape takes a long time. But the results, I think, speak for themselves.” Thanks to the collective hard work of non-profits like the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, private and public investors, city and state government support, and community input, the riverfront is now a public space that thousands visit every day.