Inside City Hall: Welcome to the parks

By: 
Devin Coughlin, Brandon city parks superintendent
Kids driving you crazy? Bored? Or just need to get out of the house and stretch your legs? Take a short walk to any of Brandon’s seven parks and get some fresh summer air!  
With the hot weather, you’ll probably want to start at the pool down in Aspen Park. While you’re at Aspen feel free to use the tennis courts, sand volley ball courts and the nine ballfields. If you’ve got an RC car, you can do that here, too.  
After Aspen, maybe you’ll want to find some nice shade down at McHardy Park. Bring your fishing pole and drop a line in Splitrock Creek. And if you’re still felling like getting some exercise, McHardy has sand volleyball, one ballfield and is also home to Brandon’s soccer complex. You can get an excellent view of the park from the lookout tower on top of the hill next to the Veteran’s Memorial. And don’t forget about the park come winter time, McHardy also has a sledding hill and two ice rinks.
If the soccer complex is too full, you can head over to Pioneer Park and play soccer there as well. Want to play a sport where it’s OK to use your hands, then play some basketball on the full-size basketball court. Pioneer Park is also home to our nine-hole, par 3 disc golf course. The Brandon Historical Society has also recently begun to refurbish an old log cabin.
Brandon also has four smaller neighborhood parks, each outfitted with a playground, shelter and restroom. Sunrise is located on the East side of Brandon; Van Buskirk is on the west side of the city, and Tallgrass is located in the middle of town just north of the Brandon Elementary. Our newest park, Stone Ridge, is still in the early stages of construction. We are hoping to get the playground installed later this year, and then the shelter and restroom to follow next year.
You may not realize it, but the Parks Department has only two full-time employees. We are extremely dependent on volunteers, associations and other groups to help keep everything looking great and running smoothly. Please come out and use the parks as often as you can, just remember to pick up your garbage and pet waste so the next person can have an equally good experience.  
Thanks, and I’ll see you outside!

Category:

The Brandon Valley Journal

 

The Brandon Valley Journal
1404 E. Cedar St.
Brandon, SD 57005
(605) 582-9999

Email Us

Facebook Twitter

Please Login for Premium Content