Photos by L.G. Patterson

In 2019, Richard King took over Cooper’s Landing. Three days later, it flooded.

Back then, the general store and music venue was made of wooden siding, perched on a bluff along a bend of the Missouri River. The building was level with the gravel, flanked by picnic tables and campsites. When the water rose up, the staff knew the protocol and got to work with flood defense right away. As he witnessed this, King began to think of how to better protect the marina from the fluctuating heights of the river.

Seven years later, Cooper’s Landing is now made of flood-resistant concrete and steel. Also, the bathrooms are awesome.

The Cooper’s Landing renovation was in the works for three years prior to breaking ground in 2025. A redesign to make the venue more accessible, updated and safe from flood damage was in mind for King when he bought the landing in 2019, but the red tape surrounding construction work proved taxing. King, who previously owned The Blue Note and founded the Roots N Blues Festival, is no stranger to business ownership, but says the Cooper’s Landing renovation was his most challenging project to date.

Initially, the plan was to start with new restrooms. Cooper’s Landing is a popular riverside camping spot and with its location along the Katy Trail, campers, hikers and bikers take advantage of the facilities. Only, the facilities in question were outhouses (which any happy camper will tell you were perfectly fine and good). Regardless, new plumbing and showers were top priority for King.

When he ran the restroom plans by designer Stephen Bourgeois, they started talking bigger and bigger. King says Bourgeois told him, “forget the bathrooms, let’s do the whole building.” And so they did.

After 10 months of construction, the new Cooper’s Landing features impeccable indoor restrooms, an upstairs event space, an expanded general store, parking improvements and a full-service bar. There are also aluminum floodgates in place to protect the building from rising water.

While the long-time loved camping spot and venue had a facelift, its rustic charm remains untouched. The goal of the renovation was to make it more user-friendly and accessible, welcoming as many visitors as possible to share in the beauty of the river and surrounding trails, not to abandon what the landing has always stood for.

“We don’t want to change anything we’re doing,” King says. “We’re always going to keep supporting local food vendors, small businesses, artists and musicians. I can’t wait to get back to that.”

With renovation finally wrapped up in late July, the landing can return to its regularly-scheduled programming: food trucks, live music, fishing, camping and biking, just like old times. The construction disrupted much of Cooper’s Landing’s spring and summer, so it’s a major relief for King and his staff to have the jackhammers and ladders put away and a brand-new building ready for fall, their busiest season. Upcoming events to note include the Conservation Expo in September, Biscuits Beats & Brews in October, a litany of bonfire-lit concerts and comfortably-chilly nights by the water.

While the original building outlasted the 2019 flood that welcomed King to the Big Muddy, he says of the renovated Cooper’s Landing, “the river can’t take this away.”