Denver to take over Wash Park and City Park rentals, leaving current operator scrambling

Wheel Fun Rentals owner Josh Catron would typically be gearing up to open for a new season of renting bikes and boats at Denver's Washington Park and City Park. 

"There are maybe half a dozen boats in here, we have about 36 off-site," Catron said as he showed CBS Colorado where some of his equipment is stored at Wash Park.

Instead, he's trying to figure out what to do with around 40 large swan boats and dozens of bikes. He says he must get everything off the city's property by Friday. 

"They're doing the exact same thing that we do," said Catron. "They saw the idea. They let us do all the hard work to figure out what works and what doesn't work. And then they're like, Okay, we'll just do it."

Wheel Fun Rentals has been working on three-to-five-year contracts with the city for 21 years. As its founder nears retirement, Catron decided to buy the business last year. He says there was no indication their latest contract, which ended Dec. 31, 2025, wouldn't be renewed.

"Nothing from Denver Parks and Rec to say, hey, this is your last year under your contract. And of course, three years ago, when we entered this most recent contract, there was no indication of, hey, this is going to be your last contract."

Catron is a school teacher who, in an effort to supplement his teaching salary, served as the company's manager for the last seven years. 

"I've been teaching now for 13 years, and this was sort of the perfect way, as I was starting a family, got married, have three kids now, to do two things that I love."

He says he recently put tens of thousands of dollars into new equipment and improvements, such as resurfacing the dock at Wash Park. 

"And now the city is the beneficiary of this and is going to use it," he added.

Denver Parks and Rec notified the company last fall that its lease would not be renewed. However, Catron says he tried to work with them on a new proposal to keep his business operating. 

"It took a couple of months for them to even get back to my proposal. And when they said, 'Hey, no, we're done. You have one month to evict.'"

Catron also says the city declined to purchase any of his equipment, which left him scrambling, even resorting to Facebook Marketplace to sell the swan boats and surrey bikes. 

"It's just me. I can't hire a team to do all this, given that we weren't able to financially prepare."

Meanwhile, over at City Park, Denver Parks and Rec is already storing new boats they've purchased in preparation for taking over. 

"They're being perfectly legal, but just because something's legal doesn't make it right."

Catron is working to sell the equipment or quickly find another municipality to work with. But time is of the essence. Denver Parks and Rec confirmed they will be managing operations at the two parks, but did not answer our question as to why they made that decision.