Reserve Park dedication and ribbon-cutting, Feb. 22 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Press release from the City of Gainesville
The City of Gainesville Wild Spaces & Public Places program and the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department is pleased to invite the public to come out and celebrate the dedication of the new neighborhood park, located at 700 NE 11th St.
A dedication presentation will take place Saturday, February 22. from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. followed by obstacle course and traveling rings demonstrations by local residents and competitors on the “American Ninja Warrior” television program. The neighborhood groups Friends of Reserve Park and the Reserve Park Community Garden Group will also be in attendance along other friends and partners. Light refreshments will be provided. Attendees should dress comfortably so they can enjoy all of the fun!
Parking for the event is courtesy of the Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center (1028 NE 14th St.), where a shuttle van will take event attendees to the park and back. The shuttle service will begin at 10:45 a.m. and run through 1 p.m.
The new park has features for everyone. An original sculpture and service flags line the Eighth Avenue entry, while a fenced community garden with fruit trees and a garden shed sits at the park’s 11th Street entry. Other amenities within the park include modern play equipment, traveling rings, an obstacle course, a pavilion, benches, picnic tables, grills, a walking path, open green space, and landscaping with extensive tree and shrub plantings.
Reserve Park is a City of Gainesville park honoring service members from all branches of the military and their families. Reserve Park was built on the property that was once the C. R. Layton United States Army Reserve Center; the property was transformed into a neighborhood park in 2019. The 257th Movement Control Battalion – known as the Movers and Shakers – occupied this 6.8-acre site for nearly 60 years, from 1951 until 2009.
The approximate cost of the park was $954,000. The Reserve Park project was funded through the Wild Spaces & Public Places half-cent sales tax, Reserve Park CIP fund and tree mitigation funding to support additional tree plantings in the park.
For information about the event, please contact Jenny Felts McGovern at feltsmcgoji@cityofgainesville.org, 352-393-8524 or visit www.cityofgainesvilleparks.org.