This summer the first man-made rafting park in the U.S. opens outside Charlotte, N.C. Are more urban parks on the way?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (FORTUNE Small Business) - Coming soon to a metropolis near you: Class IV rapids. Jeff Wise, a former software entrepreneur, is helping develop the first white-water park in the U.S., on a 307-acre plot outside Charlotte. The nonprofit park opens in June and will host world-class competitions, though Wise wants weekend warriors to show up too.

"We're not selling kayaking," says Wise, 42. "We're selling a lifestyle." To that end, he plans to offer such amenities at the park as hiking trails and a cafe - along with treacherous eddies, seven-foot plunges, and 10,000-pound boulders the size of Humvees.

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