The yardstick of any community is the city park.
Ok, perhaps not but should it be? Lets test this idea.
New York has Central Park, Portland has Mill End on the river and in my favorite west coast city to visit San Francisco you have Golden Gate Park.
The city park has long been a place where people meet to run, picnic, ride bikes, play with their kids or dogs or both, have a wedding, spread ashes of a loved one, senior photo’s are taken and lovers kiss for the first time. The city park is a daily portrait of the beauty of any city painted with its people.
Now lets talk Fresno, how do we stack up?
Anyone living in almost any area of town knows about Woodward Park. Its a 300+ acre wonderland of fun known by most of us as The Park. Yes we have other parks but the flagship of the Fresno Park world is Woodward.
I remember seeing The Park for the first time in the 198o’s on a test drive with my parents as we drove north of town and out into the county enjoying the ride and the new car smell. I remember it being far north of Pinedale, Malibu Grand Prix and the Drive In. Today I drive by The Park every day from my NE Fresno home and into the office passing River Park and enjoying the speedy drive down Hwy 41. Funny how time has changed this little drive, could be age, could be time or perhaps progress…
Then again it’s probably all of them combined.
Now days not a week goes by that one of the seven in our family can’t be found having fun in one part of The Park or another. Mostly we are riding bikes on one of the many trails into or around The Park. Alone or in a pack we have fun. Our #1 family favorite thing to do in The Park is race cyclocross. Cyclocross is a crazy type of bike race where the hardcore CX racer rides a bike that looks to most like a road bike and MTB had a love child, while many such as myself, see it as the One Bike to rule them all.
No other city park around has so much to offer for the CX rider as The Park. You could insert Runner, Walker, Dog lover or Frisbee Golfer into the CX rider slot and all would still be true.
More on this topic at another date but for Cyclocross pink flamingo’s (plastic not the Zoo version) are a must have accessory….
The Park, our park, has more groups using it than any other park I can think of with the exception of Central Park.
We have it all from babies playing to the man I see almost every day doing Tia Chi…….. I would list out all the activities I can think of that happen in The Park but frankly we don’t have time and space to go over it all. The list is that complete.
If I were asked if The Park in Fresno measures up my answer will always be…. FresYes!
And then there is The River….
- Invitation to the Ball - November 6, 2015
- Sportsman’s Warehouse, the New Kid In Town - July 20, 2015
- The Freewheel Project - July 13, 2015
Way to go Mark! Nice insight.
Mark, Thank you for this wonderful story. You painted a beautiful picture and allowed me to view it while traveling along with you.
Looking forward to the next adventure!
Nicole