The unofficial ‘Mayor of Clover Island’ and a Kennewick waterfront legend has died
Kay Metz, the legendary figure of Kennewick’s Columbia River waterfront, has died. He was 84.
Metz was 10 when his father, Dale, moved the family from Kearney, Neb., to Richland for a job at the Hanford nuclear site during World War II.
Dale Metz would become a boating enthusiast and visionary who made the river the focus of his life and of his son’s.
In 1954, Dale established Metz Marina on Clover Island. The newly built McNary Dam turned the formerly unpredictable Columbia River into the predictable Lake Wallula.
Dale, who died in 2010 at 94, saw the new lake as an opportunity for the Tri-Cities to capitalize on its waterfront. His son would continue that legacy.
Today, the Metz family is forever linked to Clover Island, where a plaza is named in their honor.
The family sold the marina to the Port of Kennewick in 2003 but Kay Metz’s involvement was so enduring that he was given the unofficial title of “Mayor of Clover Island.” He was a longtime member of the Clover Island Yacht Club and its past commodore.
He was closely associated with the hydroplane races his father started in 1966 as the Atomic Cup and later Tri-City Water Follies. The younger Metz attended every race that followed, a regular fixture for more than 54 years.
He was a volunteer, leader and even rescue boat driver.
He started as a pit boat pilot responsible for towing disabled hydros back to shore when they had engine trouble. Later, he oversaw volunteers who patrolled the shoreline in boats and served on the board of directors.
In 1997, he was part of a team that famously rescued the celebrated driver Dave Villwok when the Miss Budweiser flipped in the final heat of the race. Metz drove the boat that raced paramedics and divers to the spot where the upside down boat was bobbing in the middle of the race course.
The team extricated Villwock, stabilized him and sent him along to Harborview Medical Center. He survived the life-threatening injuries and later returned to racing.
During the 2017 boat races, Metz was watching a father holding a child when he recalled how families avoided Water Follies in its early, alcohol-fueled days, when the park was called “The Animal Farm.”
“Years ago, it was kind of wild down there. So wild you didn’t want to bring a family down here,” he told the Tri-City Herald at the time.
To the port, Metz was a reliable ally who shared his father’s belief in Clover Island as a recreation destination. He stood ready to lend his boating expertise to all and his pumps to boaters in distress when their watercraft were sinking.
The port honored him with its 2020 “Friend of the Port” award.
The port has lost a friend, said Tim Arntzen, the port’s executive director.
“Kay was a treasure, and I considered him a personal friend, He cared deeply about this community, about water-recreation, and especially about Clover Island. We are truly saddened by his passing. And we are uplifting his friends and family in our hearts and our prayers,” he said.
The Neptune Society of Kennewick is in charge of arrangements.
This story was originally published October 11, 2024 at 5:00 AM.