Idaho park seeks operator for year-round sauna and cold plunge experience

Idaho Parks is looking for an operator to run a mobile sauna and cold plunge setup at Eagle Island State Park, a move that pushes contrast therapy into the state-park concession business instead of leaving it in gyms, backyard rigs, or private wellness studios.

The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation issued a Request for Proposal dated April 3, 2026, and said it wanted a year-round sauna and cold plunge experience at the 545-acre park west of Boise. The notice sought “motivated entities or individuals” interested in a business relationship for the development, management and maintenance of the setup, which makes clear this is being treated as an ongoing park amenity, not a one-off event.

The selected operator would carry most of the operational load. The RFP calls for sauna installation, utility connections and meters, reservations and utilities, required insurance, continual sanitation under health codes, and safety protocols. The proposed concession lease would not exceed two years, which gives the state a short runway to test whether hot-and-cold therapy can work as a revenue-producing recreation feature inside a public park.

Eagle Island already has the kind of outdoor profile that makes the idea feel plausible rather than gimmicky. The park sits along the Boise River and offers a swimming beach, picnic lawns, more than five miles of trails for hiking, dog walking and horseback riding, plus a 19-hole disc golf course. Its RV campground opened in September 2025 with 48 full hook-up sites, and the park stays open year-round.

The business angle matters as much as the wellness angle. A March 2026 MRSC review said mobile saunas are increasingly showing up in waterfront parks and are often paired with cold-plunge access. Local governments, the review said, see them as a way to activate underused parks, support wellness tourism, create jobs and tax revenue, and build public-private partnerships. Eagle Island looks like the next logical place to see whether that model can scale inside a state park system.

Idaho has already seen the concept tested elsewhere. In McCall, Idaho Mountain Saunas of Caldwell floated a lakeside sauna and cold plunge concept with hours from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., space for up to eight people per session, and projected first-year revenue of $225,000 and about $329,000 over five years. That proposal drew mixed reaction from the McCall City Council, which is a good reminder that the hard part is not the idea itself. It is proving the demand, pricing and operating rules in public space.