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Well, it’s been a year. One year since we opened Broad Run Park and completed the park system’s last major park (leaving aside The Strand). Since then, we have seen visitation sky rocket. We are now a top 50 visited urban park. That blows us away. Additionally, we now have bald eagles hanging out, quail re-establishing throughout the park, half-marathons coming and going, and all time new records for participation in our popular Junior Explorer, Explorer, and Wednesday Wonders interpretive programs. Thank you for making our first year so special.

And remember, it just keeps getting better. The worst a park should EVER look is on its opening day. As our trees grow larger, our meadows take serious form, and our turf establishes, The Parklands should be noticeably more beautiful each and every year. Perhaps the coolest thing is that we all get to be part of this growth. Imagine what it must have been like to be around Central Park in New York City in its first year? Or closer to home, how about being one of the first visitors to Mammoth Cave National Park? Closer yet, how about the first year of Iroquois Park? 

Iroquois Park Map, The Filson Historical Society

This provides you with incredibly neat opportunities to take your own photos that will become family treasures a hundred years from now when you were the first people to sit on a particular rock, or hike down a particular trail, or even host your wedding or family reunion at the soon-to-be-famous Hockensmith Barn.

Norbert Reis fishing with great great grandaughter Mallory Ray at Boulder Pond in Turkey Run Park. Photo by Ted Wathen/Quadrant

So while we step back to say thank you for a great first year, we remind you that your energy, your memories, your visits, and your experience are what shape the trajectory of YOUR Parklands. Thank you for being a part of this great story. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for our nation’s newest, and largest piece of urban park infrastructure.

Celebrate our birthday with us on April 15th by showing your Parklands love! Share photos of your visit(s) on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using #ParklandsBirthday.

Visit our Flickr page to see more photos from our first full year and more!

Top photo Broad Run Park Opening by Bob Hower/Quadrant.

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