Next month fireworks, live music, and a party at Gainesville’s newest outdoor gathering spot will celebrate a century of fun, games, fitness, nature preservation and camaraderie in a city that early on recognized parks as more than simply amenities. Gainesville Parks & Recreation Department’s 100th Anniversary celebration Sept. 13 at the new Midland Greenway Amphitheater honors one of Georgia’s first accredited parks departments. Nationally, it was also among an early progressive throng of agencies establishing neighborhood parks in urban environments in the first half of the 1900s.
“It just shows the vision, the forethought (of Gainesville citizens) to protect outdoor spaces and make them accessible for all” said Parks & Recreation Department Director Kate Mattison. She discovered through research into department history that the young city’s population valued public parks enough to put their money into them. The recognition of parks’ contribution to quality of life and economic development motivated 402 Gainesville citizens to vote “yes” in a Dec. 6, 1924 poll to form and fund a parks agency.
“To date, there are over 10,000 P&R agencies in the country, but in 1924 we were among the few. Boston Common Park was established in 1634, by 1800 there were only 16 public parks in the country. By 1886 City Park was established in Gainesville. New York City established a recreation bureau in 1910 and just 14 years later Gainesville did the same,” Mattison said.
Throughout the century, neighborhood parks have sprouted all over Gainesville, offering secluded hiking trails, tennis courts, shady urban sidewalks, ball fields, lakeside pavilions, and swimming pools. Currently the department “operates and maintains eight major facilities, 21 parks and over 547 or more acres of park land,” according to the agency website. Park patrons can learn to swim, bat a baseball, swat a whiffle ball, strike a yoga pose, paddle a kayak, or hit their stride in more than 2,500 programs offered annually for all ages.
The UNG/Tumbling Creek connector trail is one of the most recently completed segments of the Hightlands to Islands Trails. It extends from the tunnel under Atlanta Highway on the Chicopee Trail to the Health Services building on the University of North Georgia Gainesville campus.
The culture of recreation in Gainesville has evolved from the years when public parks were best known for children’s playgrounds into today’s demands that parks encompass a broad array of outdoor interests, from dirt hiking trails to paved greenways, disc golf courses to pickleball courts. Mattison’s collection of “fun facts” about Gainesville parks includes the 1963 rule that banned horses in parks. The city banned smoking in public parks about 20 years ago, one of the first Georgia cities to do so.
In fiscal year 2024, the park system operated on a near $11 million budget, according to the city financial report. It is funded through fees and charges, property taxes, impact fees, SPLOST funds and grants. The parks director said it gets a boost by a “strong arm of support” from the Gainesville Parks & Recreation Foundation, formerly Friends of the Parks, a non-profit organization that raises funds, offers programs like the Butterfly Release at Wilshire Park, and helps maintain and beautify parks and greenways.
Mattison, who was hired as director in May 2019, succeeded 47-year Gainesville parks icon Melvin Cooper, who started as an intern in 1972 and was appointed director in 1989. Under his 30-year leadership, the department earned National Accreditation from the standard-setting U.S. commission. He told Lakeside News in an email that he is “most proud” of that accomplishment that required “an 8-year journey” amassing documentations of policies and procedures to meet 153 standards. “(We) became only the third agency in the state of Georgia to be accredited and the first to meet all 153 standards,” he said.
He said another most meaningful accomplishment was “the establishment of the Children at Play Fund that provides scholarships to children who may need our services the most, but can’t afford them.”
He believes Gainesville parks’ next century will continue the legacy begun in 1924. “The future of the agency, under the direction of Kate Mattison, is well positioned to enter the next 100 years of service to the Gainesville community inspiring a passion for parks and recreation and providing quality programs and new and expanded state of the art facilities.”
The Midland Greenway Amphitheater appeared not quite ready to open in July.
A new covered stage will have a wall, rocked columns and permanent speakers.
In July, Mattison provided an update on several parks projects under way this summer, beginning with the anniversary celebration site:
- The Midland Greenway amphitheater, originally scheduled for completion in May, was expected to come together by party day. Mattison said difficulty fitting a prefabricated “band shell” for the stage delayed the opening. The venue is expected to feature a covered stage, 16’ by 9’ video wall, restrooms, and terraced grass seating to accommodate about 1,000 people on blankets or folding chairs. An additional 2,000-plus people will have viewing access in nearby greenspace along the path. Food trucks can pull up to three outlets to feed attendees.
Mattison expects the venue to be a popular rental property on the greenway. “We’re trying to make it become a festival destination,” she said, adding that Mule Camp Festival and Latino Festival have already made the Midland Greenway their home. The parks department is also involved with other expansions on the Highlands to Islands Trail. See related story.
- “The Coop”: The near 90-acre J. Melvin Cooper Youth Athletic Complex on Old Cornelia Highway is expected to open between November and early 2025. It includes five ball fields, a multi-purpose field, batting cages, concession stands, restrooms, and loop trail.
- Martha Hope Cabin: The historic log cabin behind the Civic Center is close to restoration with a new roof, fresh chinking between the logs, and leveled lawn and parking area.
- Wessell Park: The park on Holly Drive, recently outfitted with four pickleball courts and disc golf course, is getting more parking spaces, restrooms, and lighting.
- Roper Park: Located on Virginia Circle off Thompson Bridge Road, this park added pickleball courts and will soon get a sand volleyball court, updated restrooms and additional parking.
- Frances Meadows Aquatic Center: The facility, which is much more than an aquatic venue, is replacing all fitness and cardio equipment. Pool resurfacing is on the near agenda.
- Wilshire Trails Park: Plans started last month to expand the “Wilshire Wonderland” holiday lights display at the park on Pearl Nix Parkway.
Guiding Gainesville Parks & Recreation into its next century is “a lot of work, but a lot of fun,” Mattison said. “There are no two days alike, there’s always something different.”
100th Anniversary celebration Gainesville Parks & Recreation
- When: 7-10 p.m. Sept. 13
- Where: Midland Greenway Amphitheater, 682 Grove St.
- Party Plan: Live music by TAPE (The After Party Experience), a 10-piece energetic ensemble big on brass and top 40 hits in diverse genres followed by fireworks. Seating on grass, blankets or folding chairs in amphitheater or on nearby grounds. Food and beverage trucks on site.
Photos: by Jane Harrison
