What you see at The Parklands is what you won’t soon forget. In a single day—within just one of the four parks—you might catch a great blue heron gliding over Floyds Fork, hike past a field of wild hyacinth in bloom, or spot a deer leaping over a fence as birds flutter overhead.

Beyond these awe-inspiring sights are the experiences that stay with you. Maybe it’s a Junior Explorer event, where your child or grandchild excitedly watches a minnow race or Turtle Derby. Or perhaps it’s something smaller and more geared toward getting active, like an evening Walking Club session shared with fellow nature enthusiasts.

Now imagine all of this—and so much more—unfolding over an entire year.

For our team across Education, Horticulture, Operations, Events, and other parts of our organization, reflecting on milestones, achievements, and celebrations big and small has been a rewarding reminder of what your support makes possible.

Enjoy this look back at last year’s highlights, and join us in celebrating the journey ahead!

Visits already surpass 3 million

As of Oct. 31, 2025, we’ve had more than 3,154,408 visits in 2025, bringing our total to over 36.4 million visits since our inception. To put this in perspective, the Greater Louisville region is home to more than 1.4 million people.* Great parks connect people with nature and with each other, and this momentum tells us The Parklands is doing just that.

*Source: Statistics from Greater Louisville Inc.

Turkey Run Park turned 10  

This year, Turkey Run Park celebrated its 10th anniversary—a milestone that highlights how much the landscape has changed in just a decade. Once home to farms and fairways, the park has evolved into a patchwork of restored meadows, wooded trails, and beloved landmarks that honor its original character.

Our recent celebration of Turkey Run’s milestone underscores how young the park system still is—and how much its impact has grown thanks to the generosity of our Members. For context, Beckley Creek Park turned 13 this year, Pope Lick turned 12, and Broad Run Park will mark its 10^th anniversary in 2026.

To learn more about the history of Turkey Run Park, read this blog article.

Nearly 24,000 Outdoor Classroom experiences

More kids than ever connected with nature in 2025 through our Outdoor Classroom, our hub for hands-on science and natural history education. As of October 31, 2025, we provided 23,850 educational experiences―a five-percent increase over all of 2024, which was itself a record year for the initiative.

Outdoor Classroom experiences include camps, field trips, weekly Wednesday Wonders sessions, seasonal Junior Explorer adventures, and more.

Within each of these experiences are smaller moments of discovery, learning, and fun. So while the overall total is significant, it only tells part of the story. Each moment creates its own ripple effect that extends throughout our community.

A critical component of the Outdoor Classroom is the S.E.E.D. Program (Stewardship, Education, Exploration, Discovery), which removes financial barriers by providing scholarships that cover all field-trip costs, including transportation, for Title I schools and equivalent programs in our area.

Of the nearly 24,000 experiences we provided in 2025, more than half were offered through the S.E.E.D. program.

Our hope is that each student leaves with a lasting understanding that parks can be both a resource and a refuge throughout their lives. We see that connection in the big smiles—especially on our hikes and creek explorations.

Moments ranged from the time rangers turned a student into a tree, to building a stream and pollution hill in classrooms, to finding fossils and seeing a snake at The Parklands… Students remember the experiences they have at The Parklands and with rangers. For educators, it doesn’t get any better than this.
– Title I School Faculty Member

Hundreds of trees planted

Riparian meadows, hardwood forests, and scenic vistas are part of the mosaic of landscapes at The Parklands, and they are constantly changing. Our aim is to preserve and sustain these areas in ways that enhance their uniqueness, promote biodiversity, and showcase the best of nature’s beauty.

In 2025, our Horticulture, Natural Areas, and Trails teams completed hundreds of projects toward this goal, from removing invasive species to planting and watering of trees.

A major focus this year was restoring the tree canopy by replacing trees from the park’s earliest installations that had been affected by drought and other natural stressors. We also added new plantings in locations such as The Strand and Broad Run Park.

By the end of 2025, we will have planted over 300 trees in total, enhancing riparian zones and strengthening overall habitat health.

Repainted Structures and Enhanced Trail Crossings

Beginning in July, we repainted bridges in Turkey Run and Broad Run Parks and completed maintenance repairs along the Louisville Loop. This year, we also repainted the silos at the Brown-Forman Silo Center and Ben Stout House in Turkey Run Park, and refreshed the paint on both the John Floyd Field Community Building and its pavilion in Pope Lick Park.

Along the Osage Orange Explorer Trail in Beckley Creek Park—a popular natural-surface trail for families—we added creek crossings.

These maintenance projects were part of our ongoing effort to help ensure visitors enjoy exceptional outdoor experiences.

I CANNOT say enough wonderful things about Parklands!… The course’s design (Louisville Loop) is both challenging and beautiful. Clean restrooms and bike repair stations throughout are just fantastic! The maintenance and upkeep are also notable—and a newsletter to boot. I talk about it all the time with anyone who will listen! Keep up the great work…
– W. Wilson, cyclist

Courtesy of Kendra Farris Photography

A joyful abundance of  ‘I Dos’

The vision of The Parklands is to create a haven where people can enjoy a standard of living second to none. This aspiration extends to celebrations, where the park’s natural splendor blends beautifully with the architectural charm of our venues.

In 2025, venues like the Gheens Foundation Lodge in Beckley Creek Park and the Hockensmith Barn in Turkey Run Park continued to be a place where couples from Louisville and beyond celebrated engagements and weddings. We were overjoyed to see 40 weddings take place at our venues this year!

Our Events Team especially loved seeing how the spaces could be transformed to reflect each couple’s unique style. Their efforts have included everything from finding ways for venues and interior spaces to rise to the occasion to paying attention to every fine detail throughout each event. We’ve helped create a seamless experience from start to finish, no matter the group’s size. 

In collaboration with wedding coordinators and our vendor partners, we’ve worked to ensure every celebration is filled with moments that become lasting memories. We know we’ve achieved that each time we receive a warm hug from a bride or the parents of a newly married couple.

We’ve also been touched to see couples who married at our venues return to the lawns with their children to revisit the place where their story began.

Our wedding at The Parklands was beautiful and stress free. It was a perfect day.
– J. Rutledge

Galas and corporate gatherings at our venues

Our venues have also played a part in hosting special galas and organizational gatherings this year.

In March, the Gheens Foundation Lodge served as the setting for the Greater Louisville Medical Society Foundation Doctors’ Ball. This awards gala and fundraising event celebrated the achievements of their physicians with cocktails, program, silent auction, dinner and dancing—it was a hit!

Photo courtesy of Kosair for Kids

In July, we were delighted to see kids and their families enjoying a fantastic day at the Hockensmith Barn during the Kosair for Kids Back-to-School Bash. More than 250 people attended as children loaded up on school supplies and took part in the festivities.

Just before the start of fall, our annual Field & Fork fundraiser was a beautiful success! The stars aligned over Turkey Run Park for an amazing event. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, the auction was lively, and the company made the night unforgettable.

Throughout the year, we also welcomed companies such as Coldwell Banker McMahan and Sterling Thompson to the Gheens Foundation Lodge for their team gatherings. Many groups built time into their agendas for participants to enjoy the parks on their own.

It’s not every day you receive an email from your employer inviting you to a meeting—and encouraging you to bring a bike or kayak to explore the parks before or after the session. Our corporate partners tell us that the Gheens Foundation Lodge lends itself perfectly to this “come for the meeting, stay for the parks” experience.

Melissa and Beth were extremely helpful. The facility is clean and well equipped with loads of natural light! A perfect place for a small corporate meeting… I got great feedback from staff on the location. I’m sure we will be back!
– P. Franklin

Fun community events

Throughout 2025, the community enjoyed events like The Parklands & WLKY 5K, The Parklands Walking Club, Earth Day Fest, seasonal StoryWalk® events, and more.

Of these gatherings, our fundraisers stood out for both their turnout and their impact. At our annual 5K, more than 1,000 participants raced with us—and became Members by joining the fun.

Another highlight was The Parklands Education Luncheon, which welcomed attendees in support of our S.E.E.D. program. Students from two partner schools explored wildlife up close, interacting with owls and reptiles, took part in presentations, and enjoyed meals alongside our generous donor partners.

Outside of fundraising, our family-friendly community programs offered opportunities for people of all ages to connect with nature. Our Junior Explorer events attracted families from across the city. Free to the public and made possible by our Education team and community partners, these events engaged children and adults alike in hands-on activities and demonstrations. More than 1,000 people attended the three Junior Explorer events, with the May Turtle Derby drawing the largest crowd.

In addition to our own programs, we were thrilled to be part of the Kentucky Shakespeare in the Parks tour, which included scheduled performances at Broad Run and Beckley Creek Parks. Our partner Legend at Pope Lick reported a record single-day attendance for their Goatman Festival, hosted free movie nights throughout the summer, and offered other popular activities helping bring even more people into the park community.

Join us on an exciting path ahead!

If you’ve ever hiked a trail like the Paw Paw in Turkey Run Park, you know the exhilaration of reaching the end. You might think, “I did it!” or “That was fun—next time I’ll take this trail and add Chinkapin!”

For 2025, you can confidently say you did it. Your support has helped us operate more than 4,000 acres at a world-class level and provide park experiences that are safe, clean, fun, and beautiful—365 days a year, for free.

Thanks to everyone who has donated to help us carry out our mission of preserving and sustaining unexcelled parklands that reflect the needs and values of our whole community. We look forward to continuing this work in the new year and for years to come!

Help us keep the parks thriving and the momentum going in 2026! By becoming a Member of The Parklands, a nonprofit public park system that receives no tax dollars for its annual operations, you can support our mission and be part of this journey. Join today at theparklands.org/donate.